portability

More than 600,000 phone numbers have been ported in Romania in the three years since this service was launched, 67% of which are mobile numbers, while Cosmote is the destination operator for most of them, according to telecom regulator ANCOM.

Over 500,000 telephone numbers were ported in Romania between October 2008 and May 16, 2011, most in mobile networks, according to the data of telecom regulator ANCOM.

Romanian communications regulator ANCOM wants to lower the ceiling on the fees paid by telephony operators for number portability, from EUR13 to EUR7on fixed telephony and from EUR11 to EUR5 on mobile telephony, the regulator said Thursday.

Some 14,000 Romanian mobile telephony users switched to a different operator in the past two months, without changing their telephone numbers. Most users went to Cosmote Romania – 5,960, followed by Orange Romania – 4,167 and Vodafone Romania – 3,778.

Mobile network operators and hard-line operators will have to pay EUR11 and EUR13, respectively when a client wishes to switch to a different telecom operator and keep the number, Liviu Nistoran, head of Romania's telecom regulator ANC, said Tuesday.

Telecom operator Vodafone Romania, owned by giant telecom group Vodafone, will cover all portability costs by the end of the year for users wishing to switch to its network.