With the telco regulator in Hong Kong giving its stamp of approval for fixed mobile number portability last Friday, fixed line phone numbers here can finally be set free. Right off, I can think of a couple of scenarios where its useful to port fixed to mobile.
- You can move your business fixed line to a mobile and not miss any calls without the need to subscribe to call forwarding.
- Stop paying for your monthly fixed line fees just because you feel nostalgic about the number – port it to a prepaid mobile number.
- Going from fixed to a prepaid mobile might actually lower your phone bills if you’re an extremely infrequent voice user.
I’m sure there’ll be more scenarios and benefits, but unfortunately, this is expected that it will take a while before the fixed line carriers here actually let you do it, as the regulator’s left it to the telcos to sort it out commercially.
And I can’t think of too many reasons why the fixed line folks here would be wanting to open the floodgates to the fixed line exodus, but hey, at least they can start the conversation on how they want to do this and work out fixed to mobile migration options.
Now that’s what I call true number portability.
Meanwhile in sunny Singapore, can someone tell me where we are on our quest for telco liberalisation and true number portability? Since the implementation of “full mobile number portability” in 2008, I still can’t port my post-paid mobile to pre-paid *sigh*! Worse still, a review on number portability doesn’t seem to be on the horizon!
