| Malaysia Likely To Implement MNP By April Next Year |
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KUCHING, Nov 10 (Bernama) -- The Mobile Number Portability (MNP) that allows mobile phone customers to retain their existing cellular numbers while switching from one service provider to another is expected to be introduced early next year.
Energy, Water and Communications Ministry's Secretary-General Datuk Halim Man said the relevant authorities were currently in the final process of fine-tuning the MNP system and it is likely to be implemented by the second quarter of 2008 with April as the most probable month.
"When exactly MNP will be implemented is up to the MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) to decide but we hope it can be done within the targeted timeframe or earlier," he told reporters after the opening of the community service and knowledge centre at the Desa Siburan Library by Mambong Member of Parliament, Dr James Dawos Mamit, here today.
Halim said initially, the MNP implementation would be carried out in stages, taking into consideration the interest of the operators and mobile phone owners.
Asked whether MNP was facing problems in implementation, he declined to comment, saying it involved policy matters but stressed that the government was actively pursuing it.
Last year, MCMC said that although it may take a while to implement MNP, it was confident of making it available to mobile phone users by December 2007.
In March this year, MCMC issued a statement announcing the appointment of a consortium comprising Talian Gerak Alih Sdn Bhd, Unified Communications Sdn Bhd and Telcordia Technologies Inc to operate and manage the MNP clearing house.
The consortium will operate and manage the MNP clearing house for five years with option for an additional five years, subject to satisfactory performance.
The design and development of the clearing house was expected to be completed by August this year for the purpose of a pilot implementation until the end of 2007.
Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan were among the countries that have implemented MNP.
--BERNAMA
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