Finally, phone numbers are portable

Telephone users will finally own their numbers - and the price of making calls may drop as a result.

The Commerce Commission yesterday ruled that phone companies must allow customers to keep their existing number when switching service providers. The ruling takes effect on April 1, 2007. It applies to landlines and cellular numbers.

Telecommunications Commissioner Douglas Webb said "universal number portability will improve competition in the local and cellular markets".

Observers say the ruling removes a key obstacle to competition, and provides incentives for big telcos and smaller providers alike to poach customers with better deals.

Martin Wylie, chief executive of CallPlus, said the move would inevitably lead to lower prices for customers. Small businesses in particular would benefit because they would not have to pay for changing business cards, signs or advertising.

"People who are reluctant to shift [providers] because they've got so much goodwill locked up in a number can now say: Better deal? Well, I'm off," he said.

Vodafone is also pleased with the ruling and public policy manager Roger Ellis called it a breakthrough.

The company would consider offering a service where customers could make cheaper local calls from their mobile phone.

"That would spur competition in the local service market where arguably competition has been less strong than it might well be," he said. "It's likely to intensify competition in the mobile market as well."

Telecom did not object to the ruling, and said it seemed to have struck a reasonable balance between value for customers and costs to telcos.

Telecom's government and industry relations manager, Bruce Parkes, said the company was confident it could meet the April 2007 deadline, but coming in early would "be a stretch".

Number portability has been resisted for years by phone companies, and New Zealand is consequently behind many countries in ordering it.