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Decisions

Portability Regulations

/ / Updated on 22.01.2007

Following a determination of 22 July 2005, the Portability Regulations have been approved, prepared pursuant to the provisions of article 9, Section a) of ANACOM Statutes (Decree-Law no. 309/2001, of 7 December), article 54, Item 5 and article 125, Item 1 of the Electronic Communications Law (Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February), and the final report from the corresponding draft regulations’ general consultation procedure, following a determination of 11 March 2004.

These regulations establish the principles and rules applicable to portability in public telephone networks and are binding for all companies with portability obligations.

These Regulations include Specifications for Portability, defined in paragraph 1, point h), of article 2 thereof, which correspond to Appendixes I and II of the so-called "Specifications for Operator Portability", approved by determination of 28 June 2001.

Under the terms of the same determination of 22 July 2005, openings were given in the National Numbering Plan (E.164) for the prefixes 639 and 659, to 11 digits, for access to mobile fax and data services, respectively.

Portability Regulations

Portability, defined here as the feature which allows public telephone service subscribers who request it to keep their number or numbers within the scope of the same service, regardless of the company providing the service, for geographic numbers in a given location, and for the remaining numbers, across the whole of the national territory, was introduced on 30 June 2001 for the fixed telephone networks and on 1 January 2002 for the mobile networks.

The general rules and principles to be observed by providers with portability obligations comprise the "Specifications for Operator Portability" approved following a decision of ICP-Anacom's Board of Directors on 28 June 2001 which also describes in detail the technical and administrative procedures necessary for the achievement of portability.

Law no. 5/2004 of 10 February - Electronic Communications Law – grants ICP-ANACOM the authority to determine the rules related to the execution of portability, which shall take the form of regulations.

In light of the above, ICP-ANACOM drew up the regulations published herein, which establish the principles and rules applicable to portability in public telephone networks and are binding on all companies with portability obligations.
These regulations are based on the rules comprising the Specifications, modified or adapted as necessary in light of the experience obtained since the onset of portability deployment.

In addition to this set of rules, the Specifications for Operator Portability also contained two appendices, one pertaining to the technical interface between networks and the other pertaining to the administrative procedures which, although they are separate from the regulations, remain in effect pursuant thereto.

In fulfillment of the provisions of article 11 of ICP-ANACOM’s articles of association, approved by Decree Law no. 309/2001 of 7 December, and of article 8 of Law no. 5/2004 of 10 February, the regulations were submitted in draft form to the corresponding regulatory and general consultation procedures, with a period of 30 working days for interested parties to voice their opinions.

The final report, which assesses the responses received under these procedures and justifies ICP-ANACOM’s choices, has been published on this Authority's website.

Thus, pursuant to the provisions of article 9, Section a) of ANACOM's articles of association, approved by Decree Law no. 309/2001 of 7 December, article 54, Item 5 and article 125, Item 1, both of Law no. 5/2004 of 10 February, hereby approves the following regulations:

Chapter I
General Provisions

Article 1
Purpose and scope

1. This document establishes the principles and rules applicable to portability in public telephone networks.

2. The aspects pertaining to the Reference Entity, in particular those of a legal, contractual, and functional nature, are excluded from the scope of application of the present regulations.

3. All companies with portability obligations, henceforth referred to as companies, shall be required to fulfill the provisions of these regulations. These include:
a) Companies responsible for routing telephone traffic to National Numbering Plan (NNP) numbers;
b) Companies which have NNP numbers, assigned to their subscribers in secondary assignments and capable of portability;
c) Companies which, through portability, receive numbers which are assigned as secondary numbers by other companies.

4. Companies which do not have their own means for routing calls to ported numbers and for managing portability processes can acquire these services from third parties with a view to fulfilling portability obligations.

5. With respect to the acquisition of numbers from third parties under the terms of the previous number, the company acquiring the numbers shall be required to assume responsibility, vis-à-vis the regulator, the users, the other companies and the Reference Entity, for fulfilling the obligations arising from the applicable legislation and regulations as well as in other instruments, in particular from the agreement with the Reference Entity.

Article 2
Definitions and abbreviations

1. For the purposes of the provisions of these regulations, the following definitions shall apply: 
a) Geographic Numbering Area: each of the 51 zones in the Portuguese territory identified by its own access code;
b) Reference Database signifies the set of data comprising, in particular, the numbers and codes necessary for routing calls to ported numbers, the ported numbers themselves, the log of transactions between the Providers and additional items necessary for the proper achievement of portability;
c) Portability Cycle: period lasting from the first time a number is ported until the number is returned to the donor;
d) Monitoring Committee body created under the Protocol signed on 23 January 2001 between ICP-ANACOM, APRITEL, and the public telecommunication service providers with portability obligations, serving as an interlocutor between the Reference Entity and providers with portability obligations.
e) Working day: any day of the week, from Monday to Friday, except Portuguese national holidays, Shrove Tuesday and Christmas Eve;
f) Company: the entity which provides networks and/or public telephone services;
g) Reference Entity: independent entity which serves as an intermediary in portability processes, managing, in addition, a system of data bases which store information related to ported numbers as well as the log of transactions carried out;
h) Specifications for portability: technical and procedural rules pertaining to portability, adopted by the regulator and which the companies are required to follow.  The Specifications correspond to Appendixes I and II to the “Specifications for Operator Portability”, approved following a decision of ICP-ANACOM’s board of directors on 28 June 2001, notwithstanding any modifications which may be introduced thereto, whenever this is appropriate;
i) Portability Extranet: secure site hosted at anacom.pt in which information pertinent to portability is made available, and to which external access is restricted to the Reference Entity and companies with portability obligations;
j) DDI Range: ranges of 10, 100, or 1000 contiguous numbers, starting with a number ending in 0, 00, and 000, respectively, supported in Basic and Primary ISDN accesses; the main PABX number is, by definition, the first number of one of its ranges, which ranges may be either contiguous or non-contiguous;
k) Unique and indivisible range: DDI range included in a portability order that may be either a simple order or one which is part of a coherent order, in which the range remains stable after the first portability associated with that order;
l) Portability window: three-hour period during which portability or changes to the NRN occur; there are three portability windows defined: 9:00 – 12:00; 14:00 -17:00; 18:00 – 21:00:
m) Multiple subscriber number (MSN): multi-point configuration supported in basic ISDN accesses which may include contiguous or non-contiguous numbers;
n) Simple order: electronic portability order pertaining to a single number or range of numbers;
o) Overlapping order: electronic portability order placed after another order related to the same phone number without the first order having been cancelled;
p) Coherent order: a set of electronic portability orders related to various numbers and/or ranges of numbers from the same subscriber, handled as a single order and consequently ported within the same window, and separately covering:

  • geographic numbers;
  • non-geographic non-mobile numbers which can include the corresponding support numbers; 
  • mobile numbers;

q) Point of no return: time after which it is no longer possible to cancel an electronic portability request;
r) Portability: feature which allows public telephone service subscribers who request it to keep their number or numbers within the scope of the same service, regardless of the company providing the service, for geographic numbers in a given location, and for the remaining numbers, across the whole of the national territory (operator portability);
s) Implicit portability: portability of numbers associated with subscriber numbers, in particular of mobile telephone service numbers for fax, data, and voice mail services, without associated administrative procedures; the companies must assume by default that the numbers assigned to these services are also ported when the subscriber number with which they are associated is ported;
t) Restricted geographic portability: feature which allows a subscriber to telephone services accessible at a fixed location to change access locations within Portugal and keep his/her telephone number; this service is conditioned by the company’s commercial supply and the geographic numbering area;
u) Holder provider a recipient provider which operates as long as it holds the number(s) or range(s) of numbers and from which the subscriber switches over by a portability order subsequent to the first one;
v) Donor provider: company responsible for the numbering resources which were initially allocated to it by the regulator and from which the subscriber switches over in the first portability order;
w) Recipient provider company to which the subscriber switches over, “importing” the respective numbering resources;
x)  Regulator: ICP- National Communications Authority (Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações - ANACOM);
y)  Waiting period: 6 month period during which companies shall not be able to assign numbers previously in use to new subscribers. The quarantine period is included in the waiting period;
z)  Quarantine period: 3 month period during which, following the end of the agreement with the PD, the user can request to use the number in the same company or request portability. The quarantine period expires on the same day of the month if it is a working day or, if not, on the next working day.

2. For the purposes of the provisions of these regulations, the following abbreviations shall apply:

a) APRITEL: Telecommunications Operators’ Association
b) RDB: Reference Database;
c) CLI: Calling Line Identification;
d) DDI: Direct Dial In;
e) RE: Reference Entity:
f) ETSI: European Telecommunications Standards Institute;
g) ETSI TR 101 698: Administrative support of service provider portability for geographic and non-geographic numbers;
h) IN: Intelligent Network;
i) MMS: Multimedia Messaging Service;
j) MSISDN: Mobile Station ISDN Number
k) MSN: Multiple Subscriber Number;
l) NRN: Network Routing Number;
m)  DAP: Direct Access Provider;
n) DP: Donor or Holder Provider;
o) Hp: Holder Provider;
p) Dp: Donor Provider;
q) NNP: Geographic Numbering Plan;
r) PABX: Private Automatic Branch Exchange;
s) PSP: Pre-selected provider;
t) RP: Recipient Provider;
u) QoR: Query on Release;
v) ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network;
w) SIM: Subscriber Identification Module;
x) SMS: Short Message Service;

Article 3
Scope of portability

1. Numbers assigned to the following services may be ported:

a) Telephone service accessible at a fixed location (2);
b) Mobile telephone services (91,93,96);
c) Toll-free Call Services (800);
d) Shared Cost Call Services (808,809);
e) Universal Access Services (707 and 708);
f) Flat-rate Call Services (760);
g) Other services to be considered on a case by case basis.

2. The following numbers cannot be ported:

a) Those associated with public terminals;
b) Those associated with temporary accesses;
c) Those which are inactive, unless they are in the quarantine period.

3. The portability of a non-geographic, non-mobile number does not necessarily imply the portability of the corresponding support, unless expressly indicated by the subscriber, in which case RP maintenance of the link between the non-geographic, non-mobile number and the corresponding number is not mandatory.

4. The portability of mobile telephone service numbers signifies the implicit portability of the numbers associated with it for the voice mail service, including a number for checking voice mail and another number for leaving messages, under the following terms:

a) Checking voice mail - 60 9xxxxxxxx;
b) Leaving voice mail -  66 9xxxxxxxx.

5. The portability of mobile telephone service numbers signifies the implicit portability of the numbers associated with it for mobile fax and data services, including a number for each service, under the following terms:

a) Access to mobile fax services - 63 9xxxxxxxx;
a) Access to mobile data services - 65 9xxxxxxxx;

6. Notwithstanding the maintenance of the service and its fundamental characteristics, number portability limits the subscriber to the commercial supply of said service by the RP, including returns to the Dp, excluding discriminatory practices between subscribers with and without ported numbers.

7. The DP is required to allow access to services which, being part of its commercial supply, technically depend on the DP in order for the RP to be able to provide them to a subscriber with the ported number.

8. Following number portability, as a subsequent action or through the commercial supply of the RP, this latter may allow the number to be kept within the same geographic numbering area - restricted geographic portability.

Article 4
Portability solution:

1. The technical solution adopted in interconnecting networks for portability implementation, specified in the Specifications for Portability and which the companies are required to carry out, is supported, from the technical point of view of the network, in the QoR, which consists, for calls to ported numbers and in the case of attempts to establish a link to the donor access switch through signaling, of the latter sending a response (release), indicating that a data base belonging to the originating network must be asked (query), with sufficient information to route the call.

2. The data bases of the originating networks contain a copy of a centralized RDB which is managed by a third party, the RE.

3. The companies are required to maintain their database in conformity with the RDB and to perform checks as often as each company deems appropriate for the achievement of the intended objective. 

Chapter II
Principles and rules to be observed by companies with portability obligations

Article 5
General rules and principles

1. The companies must cooperate with each other in facilitating number portability and in assuring the quality of such portability, inn particular by concluding interconnection agreements and by respecting the legal framework in force.

2. The entire portability process must be carried out in such a manner as to minimize service interruptions for the subscriber, the admissible limit for such interruptions being the portability window.

3. The systems and networks must be developed and improved in order to monitor the evolution of portability, particularly as regards the increase in the number of orders and/or ported numbers an in relation to the introduction of new services and features.

4. New companies shall ensure that the networks and support systems are prepared for number portability from the date on which service operation begins and also ask the regulator, at least 2 months beforehand, for access to the Portability Extranet.

5. Pursuant to the terms of Law n.º 5/2004, the companies shall give the regulator all information requested by the latter for the purpose of portability monitoring.

Article 6
Obligations of donor and holder service providers

1. The Dp is responsible for the numbers which have been assigned to it by the regulator for primary allocation.  

2. When a termination notice associated with a portability order is presented to the DP directly by the subscriber, the former shall freely inform the subscriber that the termination notice must be submitted to the RP.

3. The DP may not charge its subscriber any fees whatsoever for number portability.

4. Following number portability, and without prejudice to fulfilling its contractual obligations, the DP shall refrain from billing the former subscriber for any service(s) associated with the ported number.

5. Whenever a number undergoing a portability process is monitored by the competent authorities in accordance with the power to legally intercept communications enshrined in law, the DP must inform, immediately after the point of no return, and promptly, so as to not compromise the continuity of interception, the authority which decided that the above-mentioned number could be ported when the portability will take place and to which RP.

6. When the DP is also the DAP it shall, within the scope of pre-selection, inform the PSP of the breakdown of the pre-selection.

7. The Dp must provide users with an inactive number message during the period lasting from the recovery of the number until the end of the waiting period.

Article 7
Obligations of the recipient provider

1. The RP is responsible for the entire number portability process and shall manage this process in defense of the subscriber's interest.

2. The RP must respect the subscriber's portability order in conformity with the definition of this feature, i.e. the subscriber changes companies and keeps the same number from the moment s/he signs up for the service provided by the RP.

3. The RP shall prepare its network and systems in advance, before connecting the new subscriber.

4. The RP is responsible for the proper sizing of its networks, services and support systems so as to ensure that portability does not cause a loss of quality of service.

5. When the RP receives a portability order relating to a number in the quarantine period, it must check when the agreement between the orderer and the DP comes to an end in order to ensure that the electronic portability order is carried out on time.

6. It is the responsibility of the RP to ask the portability orderer if there are any other portability orders placed with another company.

7. The RP shall provide the subscriber, at the time of the latter’s signing up to the service, with all information related to the portability process, namely:

a) Potential charges associated with the respective order;
b) Loss of any credit balances with the DP;
c) With respect to number portability, the fact that callers will no longer be able to identify the destination network by the first two digits;
d) The consumer information measures established by the regulator pursuant to article 21.

8. The RP must inform the subscriber having a pre-paid card agreement with the DP that the information provided by the subscriber for the portability process may be made available to the DP.

9. The RP must give the subscriber at least 24 hours advance notice about the portability window and inform him/her that service suspensions or interruptions may occur during this period.

10. The RP is responsible for ensuring, insofar as possible, that the subscriber has access to emergency services during the portability window.

11. The RP is responsible for confirming the successful completion of portability as well as, in case of failure, for promptly carrying out the actions needed to correct the problem.

12. The RP must provide users with an inactive number message during the quarantine period and until the RE returns the number to the Dp at the end of the number return process.

13. The RP is required to make effective and efficient use of the ported numbers.

Article 8
Common obligations for companies with portability obligations

1. The companies are required to provide, within the scope of the Portability Extranet, at least 10 working days’ advance notice relative to the date of the respective deployment, and to keep up to date any other information which ICP-ANACOM deems relevant, concerning:

a) Network Routing Number (NRN) Tables;
b) Portability contacts.

2. The provisions in the preceding number do not relieve the companies of their obligation to provide the same information in other contexts, in particular with respect to interconnection agreements.

3. The companies must regularly consult the information made available in the Portability Extranet.

4. Without prejudice to the legislation on the protection of personal data and privacy, the companies must provide each other with information relevant to the good development of the portability processes, namely the information specified in items 2 and 3 of article 17.

5. The companies are required to ensure, in a proper and efficacious manner, the management and deployment defined to support the portability solution so as not to negatively impact this solution.

6. The companies are required to bear the costs of the existing automatic portability solution and those related to any changes to that solution, resulting from regulatory measures prescribed by ICP-ANACOM, adopted in the wake of the applicable consultation procedures.

7. The companies are required to fulfill the obligations in the protocol signed on 23 January 2001 between ICP-ANACOM, APRITEL, and the public telecommunication service providers with portability obligations, and in the service agreement signed with the RE on 25 June 2001, namely:

a) To provide the Monitoring Committee with any information that it requests, in particular concerning legal, economic, technical or functional issues;
b) To join with the Monitoring Committee when indicated through APRITEL and to respect the respective rules of operation.

8. The companies are required to promptly carry out the actions necessary for the resolution of faults at cause in unsuccessful portability processes, following, in particular, the provisions defined in TR 101 698 of the ETSI, through contacts defined for such purpose and introduced by each company in the respective Portability Extranet area.

Chapter III
Portability processes

Article 9
Processes

1. In addition to the provisions contained in this Chapter, the portability support processes are listed in the Specifications for Portability which the companies are required to comply with.
2. The portability processes include the following fundamental administrative procedures:

a) Termination or modification of the agreement concluded with the DP, pursuant to articles 10 and 11;
b) Portability order submitted by the subscriber to the RP, pursuant to articles 12 and 14;
c) Electronic portability order presented by the RP to the DP, pursuant to articles 12 and 14.

Article 10
Termination of the agreement

1. Portability implies the termination of the agreement existing between the subscriber requesting portability and a given company and the conclusion of a new agreement with another company to which the number or numbers in question are ported.

2. The termination of the agreement, duly identified as being for purposes of portability, shall be submitted by the subscriber to the RP and forwarded to the DP, the RP being required to send, each month, and by any means which allow the proper identification of the subscriber, all agreement termination documents related to portability orders carried out within the preceding 30 days.

3. Without ruling out the right to compensation in the general terms, the RP is responsible before the subscribers and the DP for portability processes carried out which do not reflect subscriber wishes, under the following terms:

a) The RP may not charge the subscriber for any calls whatsoever that are made after a portability which has been improperly carried out, and must also bear the potential costs related to the return to DP, if the subscriber so requests;
b) The RP must compensate the DP, the RE, and the other companies with portability obligations for all costs resulting from a portability which has been improperly carried out.

4. Termination of an agreement for purposes of portability shall comply with the requirements contractually defined by the DP for a termination without an associated portability order. 

5. For pre-paid services the termination is implemented with the portability order to be submitted to the RP pursuant to article 12, by means of a document signed by the subscriber, the RP being required to send the orders to the DP pursuant to the information referred to in article 2.

6. The termination of the agreement takes effect at the moment when the portability is carried out, defined as the occurrence of the allocated portability window and the respective updating of the RDB by the RE.

7. The termination associated with a portability order shall become null and void in the following cases:

a) By default after 3 months have elapsed from the date of its submission;
b) On the specific request of the subscriber, sent to the DP and presented to the RP.

8. The provisions of this article shall apply in cases of simple modifications to the agreement with the DP, if this agreement includes numbers in addition to the number or numbers to be ported.

Article 11
Cancellation of service

1. When a company intends to cancel the service, it must provide advance notice of the termination of the offer to the respective subscribers within the legal or contractual time periods established, and must inform them if it is possible to port their numbers before the expiry of the quarantine period.

2. The termination of the contractual relationship occurs at the end of the advance warning period which the company is required to provide, or at a later date, if this is established in the notification.

3. Without ruling out the sanctions which apply to the company, failure to notify the subscriber pursuant to item 1 does not negatively impact the latter’s right to portability; the subscriber may order portability from the moment the service ceases to be available, as duly confirmed by ICP-ANACOM.

4. It is the responsibility of the regulator to include in the Specifications for Portability solutions which guarantee:

a)  The right to portability of the subscribers of the company cancelling the service, in the cases established in items 2 and 3;
b) The right of the subscribers, who through portability of the numbers assigned by the company cancelling the service, are now subscribers to another company, to keep their numbers.

5. It is also the responsibility of the regulator to define the solution which allows the RDB to cancel deactivated numbers and so to recover these same numbers.

Article 12
Portability order

1. When a subscriber changes companies in order to sign up to the same service, this does not imply the portability of the number, unless the subscriber specifically so indicates. 

2. Along with the termination referred to in article 10, the subscriber ordering portability must request it of the RP in an order specifically for that purpose, and including, in the same or in a separate document, his/her identification, even if he/she is a non-identified subscriber of pre-paid services.

3. The subscriber can request portability on behalf of a third party, duly identified, and for whom the subscriber is expressly authorized to conclude the new contract with the RP.

4. The provisions of the previous item do not apply in cases of merger, acquisition, or change of corporate name; in such cases the agreement with the RP is considered to be concluded with the same party.

5. The portability order is submitted electronically by the RP to the DP – electronic portability order – with a proposal of three separate portability windows, necessarily including 2 consecutive working days, in order of priority, of which the DP is required to accept one, bearing in mind the provisions in items 8 and 9 of this article and to submit the order within the following time periods:

a) For telephone service numbers accessible in a fixed location, with at least 8 working days’ advance notice relative, in time, to the first window.
b) For mobile telephone service numbers, with at least 5 days’ advance notice relative to the same window.

6. Coherent orders shall be arranged individually, referenced by the total number of orders, and placed in numerical order. 

7. The DP must respond to the electronic portability order submitted by the RP in no more than 2 working days, by accepting one of the windows proposed or by giving a justified refusal of the electronic portability order, pursuant to item 2 of article 13.

8. The companies are required to make rational and balanced use of the three portability windows defined, and the DP must, whenever possible, respect the order of priority indicated by the RP.

9. In the light of the specificity of the order, when the portability window between 18:00 and 21:00 is indicated as a first and second priority, the DP cannot choose the third option.

Article 13
Refusal of an electronic order

1. With coherent orders, the refusal of an order entails the refusal of the entire coherent order and consequently, the end of the process.

2. The DP may only refuse electronic portability requests in the following circumstances:

a) If the number is not portable under the terms of item 2 of article 3;
b) If there is a pending number change request;
c) If the identification or holder data in the portability order do not correspond to that on file with the DP, except when the non-correspondence is a result of abbreviations or special accents;
d) If the address listed in the electronic portability order does not correspond to the service access address of the subscriber, except when the non-correspondence is the result of abbreviations or special accents;
e) If there is no SIM, the SIM does not correspond to the MSISDN, or is lost or missing;
f) If the daily capacity has been exceeded, as defined in article 15, items 1 and 2 ;
g) If there are problems in the area of national defense;
h) For any other reason expressly defined by the regulator.

3. The reason for refusal specified in section c) of the previous number does not apply to numbers connected with non-identified pre-paid cards.

4. The reason for refusal specified in section d) item 2 only applies to geographic numbers.

5. The reasons for refusal specified in section e) item 2, only apply to mobile telephone service numbers.

6. Without prejudice to the provisions in article 46, item 5 of the Electronic Communications Law, the non-fulfillment of contractual obligations by subscribers vis-à-vis the DP does not constitute cause for loss of the right to portability.

7. Electronic portability orders related to numbers whose agreement is suspended may not be refused.

Article 14
Cancellation of the order

1. If there is a portability order in progress and the DP or a third party company is contacted by the subscriber who placed the order with the intention of, expressly or tacitly, cancelling the same, the company contacted must, notwithstanding the contractual questions involved, immediately inform the subscriber that s/he must cancel his/her order with the RP.

2. Once the cancellation request has been submitted to the RP, if the electronic portability order has already been sent to the DP, then the RP must:
- cancel the electronic portability order by the working day following that on which the portability order cancellation request is submitted by the subscriber, unless confirmation of the electronic order has not been yet been received by the DP, in which case the cancellation must occur immediately this confirmation is received;
- not renew the electronic order in the event of refusal of the same by the DP, or error.

3. If there is not enough time to carry out the cancellation of the electronic order as described in the previous item – before the point of no return - the portability shall be carried out and it will be necessary to initiate a new portability process.

Article 15
Capacity in number portability

1. The companies must have sufficient capacity for a given daily minimum, including portability and NRN modifications, initially set at 2000.

2. The minimum mentioned in the previous item shall be reviewed every four months and must be increased by 30 %, within a maximum time limit of 4 months, if, during the preceding two months the average amount of ported numbers was equal or superior to 70% of that amount.

3. These values shall be made available in the Portability Extranet, at monthly intervals.

Article 16
Number return

1. The Dp must recover the number by means of a number return process to be submitted to the RE by the Hp within a maximum of 5 working days following the deactivation of the number.

2. At the end of the number return process, the number shall be returned to the Dp which must ensure compliance with the waiting period until its re-use.

Article 17
MSN and DDI Portability

1. Without prejudice to the other rules in these regulations, MSN and DDI portability is subject to the procedures specified in this article.

2. Prior to sending the electronic portability order, the RP may ask the DP for the active configuration of all the numbers the latter holds, through the express authorization of the subscriber, which must be submitted to the DP by any method which allows the precise identification of the subscriber.

3. The DP must respond to the active configuration request, within no more than three working days after the respective date on which the request is sent, including the number and type of accesses, the MSN and DDI and the main PABX numbers as well as any other associated numbers.
The above-mentioned time limit must respect the following: a request sent by the RP by 18:00 on working day X must be answered by the DP by 18:00 on working day X+3.

4. In the number portability of an MSN the following conditioning factors must be respected:

a) In the event that the subscriber wants partial portability of the numbers comprising the MSN, s/he must, by modifying the agreement, indicate the numbers to be ported as well as the numbers to be deactivated on the date on which portability is carried out; the rest of the numbers are to remain active with the DP;
b) The numbers to be ported may or may not include the main access number of the current configuration;
c) Any actions associated with carrying out the portability and which might lead to the suspension or interruption of the service to the subscriber, in particular by the DP, must be carried out during the portability window;
d) In the event of a second or subsequent portability, the Hp must activate a process for the return of the deactivated numbers to the Dp;
e) The portability of more than one MSN number requires the placing of a coherent order under the terms of article 12, item 6.

5. In the number portability of a DDI, the following conditioning factors must be respected:

a) After the first portability, the ported ranges remain unique and indivisible until the end of the portability cycle, except for prior reconfiguration at the Hp, in which case it shall not be possible to port the deactivated numbers, which must to be returned to the donor;
b) The ranges to be ported may or may not include the main PABX number in the current configuration;
c) The portability of non-contiguous ranges requires the placing of a coherent order pursuant to article 12, item 6;
d) Any actions associated with carrying out the portability and which might cause the suspension or interruption of the service to the subscriber, in particular by the DP, must be carried out during the portability window;
6. In a first portability, a partial portability of DDI numbers shall be possible without the need for prior reconfiguration at the Dp, in which case the following conditioning factors must be respected:
a) The amount of numbers to be ported may not be less than 60 % of the active configuration at the Dp;
b) In the event that the subscriber desires partial portability of the numbers constituting the MSN, s/he must, by modifying the agreement, indicate the numbers to be ported as well as the numbers to be disconnected on the date on which portability is carried out; the rest of the numbers are to remain active at the Dp, in which case is necessary to specify the number of accesses to be maintained at the Dp.

7. In a PABX with only one numbering range, the following limitations shall exist, with X being a whole number between 1 and 9:

a) In a PABX with 10 numbers only total portability shall be permitted;
b) In a PABX with 100 numbers, in addition to total portability, the partial portability of X ranges of 10 numbers each shall be permitted;
c) In a PABX with 1000 numbers, in addition to total portability, the partial portability of X ranges of 100 numbers each shall be permitted;
d) The limit defined in section a) of the previous item must be respected, whenever applicable.

8. In a PABX with different ranges of 10, 100 or 1000 numbers, the following limitations apply, in which X and Y are whole numbers between 1 and 9, X is less than or equal to Y;

a) In a PABX with 10 numbers, in addition to total portability, the partial portability of X ranges of 10 numbers each shall be permitted;
b) In a PABX with Y ranges of 100 numbers, the partial portability of X ranges of 100 numbers each shall be permitted;
c) In a PABX with Y ranges of 1000 numbers, the partial portability of X ranges of 1000 numbers each shall be permitted;
d) The limit defined in section a) of the previous item must be respected, whenever applicable.

Chapter IV
Call routing

Article 18
Routing

1. In addition to the provisions contained in this Chapter, the conditions associated with call routing in portability are defined in the Specifications for Portability which the companies are required to comply with.

2. It is the responsibility of the company at which the call is originated to route the call to a ported number; this includes the indirect access company when selected, except in the following situations:

a) Call with re-routing, which is the responsibility of the company at which the routing is activated;
b) Virtual calling card call, which is the responsibility of the company offering the service, and this latter may, in particular, transfer responsibility to the company offering the support service;
c) Call with IN translation, in which the ported number is the “physical” number, which is the responsibility of the company offering the IN service; the latter may, in particular, transfer responsibility to the company offering the support service;

3. The responsibility for routing an incoming international call to a ported number lies with the first network to receive it, be it fixed or mobile; this obligation may be fulfilled by a subsequent network, via a commercial agreement, in the event that the first network does not have the capacity to understand the adopted signalization protocol.

4. An NRN number has the format DP1P2P3C1C2C3, with D being the service code (portability), P1P2P3 the company code assigned by the regulator, and C1C2C3 the exchange code defined by the respective provider.

5. The company code mentioned in the previous item follows the format 0xy (in which x is different from 0).

6. The CLI must be maintained in all calls originated at the ported number.

Chapter V
Costs and prices

Article 19
Costs

1. The cost of establishing systems associated with the introductions or modifications to be made in the networks and systems of each company and with other procedures associated with portability must be borne by each company in its network and systems.

2. The administrative costs incurred per ported number may be recovered by the DP from the RP.

3. When routing traffic of international origin to ported numbers, the RP is not required, unless bound by an agreement to the contrary, to pay for any additional transmission costs for calls terminating at its network.

Article 20
Prices

The price of a call to a ported number shall be defined by the company owning the traffic, pursuant to article 64, item 3 of Law no. 5/2004 of 10 February.

Article 21
Consumer information

1. The companies which offer a mobile telephone service must provide a free on-line message, in domestic voice calls between mobile networks and bound for ported numbers, whenever they practise rate plans which might result in a call to a ported number being more expensive then before the portability of the same number.

2. The message stipulated in the previous item is not mandatory for calls to numbers ported to the company’s own network.

3. The message stipulated in the previous item must be ''Aviso: Está a ligar para um assinante que agora pertence à (...). Aguarde''.1

4. The service providers must prevent the playing of this message in the following cases:

a) Domestic calls to toll-free numbers;
b) Other domestic calls not covered by item 1 to numbers capable of portability;
c) Roaming calls in which national mobile networks are used by subscribers of foreign mobile operators;
d) Whenever the calling subscriber requests it and without charge to him/her.

5. For the purposes of the provisions of section d) of the previous item, the subscribers must be duly informed by each company as to how to activate and deactivate the (prevention of the) playing of the message provided by the companies.

6. Without prejudice to other types of information on prices under the terms of the applicable legislation, the companies offering a mobile telephone service or telephone service which is accessible at a fixed location, with rate plans which might make a call to a ported number more expensive than before the portability of the same number, must maintain a telephone information service about prices for voice calls, data calls, and short text messages to ported numbers.

7. The information services refered in the previous item must be capable of identifying the destination network about which the subscriber wishes to obtain rate information, if this identification is necessary for the proper provision of this information.

8. In situations in which the companies choose to keep the prices of calls to ported numbers the same as the pre-portability prices – number guide price – the subscribers and consumers in general must be unequivocally informed of the existence of this rule, which must be clarified in the advertising of the rate plans in question.

9. The regulator is responsible for determining, whenever necessary, other ways and means for the companies to provide information to consumers concerning portability operations, calls to ported numbers and their respective prices, thus ensuring that such information is appropriate and transparent.

Article 22
Publication of information

1. In order to verify the implementation of the measures specified in the previous article as well as to monitor its efficacy, the companies must provide the regulator with the information specified in the following items.

2. Companies offering a mobile telephone service must:

a) Provide the number of complaints received per month about the on-line message being used, which information is to be submitted by the 15th day after the end of each quarter;
b) Inform and submit to the regulator, when applicable, the rate plans in which voice calls, data or short messages to ported numbers may vary according to the destination network which establishes these under the obligation to implement the information service provided for in article 21, items 6 and 7;
c) Indicate the current number for accessing the information service implemented by the company about prices for calls to ported numbers, for the purpose of publication on ICP-ANACOM's website; if this number has been changed, the new number must be communicated to the regulator at least 5 working days before the respective date on which the service becomes operational;
d) Inform the regulator at least 5 working days beforehand if they wish to stop practising the rate plans mentioned in section b); they must also indicate the date on which the information service established in article 21, items 6 and 7, is to be cancelled.

3. Companies offering fixed-location telephone service must submit the information mentioned in sections b) and d) of the previous item.

4. Companies providing mobile and/or fixed-location telephone services must submit updated information to the regulator about prices charged to subscribers for carrying out the portability operation and the respective method of payment, separated by rate plan.

5. The regulator may relieve a company of the obligation to send any of the information mentioned in this article whenever it deems appropriate.

Chapter VI
Portability and Local Loop Unbundling

Article 23
Synchronization of processes

1. If the portability process and the local loop unbundling process occur at the same time, the electronic portability order shall be sent by the RP to the DP after confirmation of the local loop’s eligibility and, if applicable, of the qualification tests in the local loop unbundling process.

2. The termination of the agreement is carried out at the same time for purposes of portability and local loop unbundling .

3. Once all the components and documents comprising the termination notice for the purpose of unbundling of the local loop have been checked, they must be considered valid for the portability process.

4. Number portability and local loop unbundling shall occur within the agreed portability window, bearing in mind that the local loop unbundling must be completed, whenever possible, within the first half of this window.

5. The RP remains responsible for managing the entire portability process whenever a local loop unbundling is associated with it.

6. The DP, in indicating the portability window, is obliged to synchronize the local loop unbundling with this window, thus allowing portability to be carried out.

Chapter VII
Monitoring and penalty regime

Article 24
Monitoring

ICP-ANACOM is responsible for monitoring the fulfillment of the provisions of these regulations.

Article 25
Penalty regime

Breaches of the provisions of these regulations are punishable pursuant to section II) of article 113 of Law n.º 5/2004, of 10 February.

Chapter VIII
Final and temporary provisions

Article 26
Code of conduct

Without ruling out the provisions in the applicable legislation and in these regulations, the companies may, with a view to improving the availability of portability, draw up codes of conduct with the goal of harmonizing the procedures related thereto.

Article 27
Access to telecommunication infrastructures in buildings

1. Companies involved in portability processes must respect the provisions of Decree-Law n.º 59/2000 of 19 April, which establishes the installation regime governing telecommunication infrastructures in buildings.

2. If joint or simultaneous work is necessary, the companies involved must agree among themselves on their execution, with the goal of minimizing the impact on the service provided to the subscriber.

3. Faults caused by work performed in the subscriber’s facilities are the responsibility of the company performing the work, even if the faults are caused by a subcontractor acting on its behalf.

Article 28
Temporary provisions

1. The solution defined in article 3, item 5 shall be implemented by all the companies, simultaneously, under the following terms:

a) At 0:00 on the first Tuesday (“day zero”) after 6 months have elapsed since the date these regulations take effect, for new subscribers and ported numbers;
b) At 0:00 on the first Tuesday (“day zero”) after one year has elapsed since the date these regulations take effect, for old subscribers;
c) The time limit defined in the previous number corresponds to the period in which the solution currently in force shall coexist with the solution defined herein.
d) The window of implementation shall last no more than 3 hours.
e) On “day zero” of the beginning of portability of mobile telephone service fax or data numbers, old subscribers shall automatically be guaranteed portability.

2. The provisions of article 15, item 1 must be implemented by all the companies at 0:00 on the first working day after 6 months have elapsed since the date on which these regulations take effect.

3. The provisions of article 15, item 17 must be implemented simultaneously by all companies that offer telephone services accessible at a fixed location at 0:00 on the first working day after 6 months have elapsed since the date on which these regulations take effect.

4. The content of the notice indicated in article 21, item 3 must be adopted within ten working days of the publication of these regulations.

5. The solution established in article 21, item 4, section d) must be implemented by 31 December 2005.

Consult:

Specifications for Portability (article 2, paragraph 1, point h) of the Regulations)

Download file Annex I - Technical Interface

Download file Annex II - Administrative Process for Operator Portability

Notes
nt_title
 
1 Meaning: "Notice: You are calling a subscriber who is now a (...) customer. Please hold on".
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