Telcos forge own portability deal

By RICHARD BRADDELL

Nine telcos, excluding Telecom and Vodafone, have agreed to bypass tortuous telephone number portability negotiations and set up a framework of their own.

The action is driven by frustration with negotiations under the umbrella of the number administration deed which after 18 months has only recently got to the point of commissioning an economic assessment of the value of number portability.

A spokesman for the renegades, Dennis Millard of CallPlus, said they had agreed to implement number portability within 12 months.

However, he was frank that without Telecom and Vodafone, the agreement would not have the same clout.

Number portability is widely regarded as a key feature of competitive telecommunications markets because business users in particular are often reluctant to go to another carrier, even if it offers better service and pricing, if they have to change and publicise their new number.

The nine companies have agreed that the one-off administration charge of $17, and no more than $20, per line ported to a new carrier be retained, but that there would be no further ongoing charges other than normal interconnect charges.

Existing conveyance charges of 0.5c a minute would cease at the end of the year.

Instead, all costs other than the administration charge would be borne within the network in which they fell.

The companies will also embark on a three-month project aimed at designing an independent administration institution that will manage, churn and maintain a register of ported numbers.

The nine companies are CallPlus, Clear, Compass, ihug, Newcall, Quest, Superway, Telstra Saturn and WorldXchange.

Telecom last night responded to the move with a statement that another roadmap for number portability was not needed.

Telecom's general manager access and transport, Richard Dammery, said: "We believe that the cost-benefit analysis is the best process for the industry to follow to ensure the outcome is efficient and fair."