By-Law on Number Portability

[admin]

From Information and Communication Technologies Authority of Turkey, 2nd July 2009

BY-LAW ON NUMBER PORTABILITY

PART ONE

Purpose, Scope, Legal Basis and Definitions

Purpose
Article 1-   (1) The purpose of this By-Law is to define the principles and procedures for implementation of number portability. 
Scope
Article 2-   (1) This By-Law covers the principles and procedures to be applied for the implementation of number portability in electronic communication networks.
Legal Basis
Article 3-   (1) This By-Law is prepared based on Article 6, 12, 31, 32 of Electronic Communication Law Numbered 5809 and dated 11/5/2008.
Definitions
Article 4-   (1) The definitions and abbreviations used in this By-Law have the following meanings:
a)Subscriber : Any natural person or legal entity who or which is party to a contract with a provider of electronic communications services for the supply of such services,
b)Location portability: Changing of location without changing of subscriber number,
c)Recipient Operator: The operator to whom the number is ported in or is in a porting stage,
d)Ministry: Ministry of Transportation,
e)Geographic number: Number, having geographic meaning in the National Numbering Plan and structured  as to ensure the routing of a call to the network termination point,
f)Geographic number portability: Operator number portability provided in  geographic numbers,
g)Non-geographic number: Numbers, not having  geographic meaning in the National Numbering Plan,
h)Non-geographic number portability: Operator number portability provided in non-geographic number,
i)GMPCS: Global Mobile Personal Communication System,
j)Service Portability: Changing of service type without changing of subscriber number,
k)Additional conveyance cost: Additional cost, within the scope of interconnection, incurred to the number block holder due to the additional switching required along with the transmission capacity and other related systems for the calls toward ported numbers compared to the call toward non ported number.
l) Operator: Any legal entity, which has the right to provide electronic communications services and/or to provide electronic communications network and to operate the infrastructure within the framework of authorization,
m)Operator number portability: Changing of operator without changing subscriber number,
n)Law: Electronic Communication Law numbered 5809 and dated    5/11/2008,
o)User: Real or legal person benefiting from the electronic communication services regardless of being a subscriber or not,
p)The Board: Information and Communication Technologies Board,
q)The Authority: Information and Communication Technologies Authority,
r)Mobile number portability: Operator number portability provided  in mobile numbers,
s)  Number: A string or combination of letters or/and digits or symbols that defines the network termination point and routes the call to the respective point that includes the information which may refer to subscriber, application, operator, telecommunication network and/or telecommunication service where relevant,
t) Right of use fee for number : The fee whose minimal value is determined by the Council of Ministers as submitted by the Ministry  upon the proposal of the Authority and , collected during the primary allocations in accordance with the type of number,
u) Announcement time of number porting: The time in which the recipient  network information, date and  time  of porting are announced, in order to assure that the necessary arrangements be made by the operators in their network in connection with the stated number,
v) Number Portability: A facility that enables the subscriber to change its operator, geographical position and/or service type without changing subscriber number,
w) Number portability system: Common Reference Data Base in which the information on ported numbers and respective routing numbers and other relevant information of operators are kept and used also for the exchange of information during porting numbers, together with other relevant information,
x) Number portability routing code: The routing code, allocated by the Authority to the operators, which indicates the recipient network information for the ported number,
y) Number holder: The operator to whom the right of use for number, which is subject to porting, is granted by the Authority,
z) System set-up cost: The expenses of an operator derived from the renovation, modification, software and hardware upgraded of his network and systems, etc. in order to provide number portability service and/or make a call to the ported numbers and other similar expenses together with the expenses derived from the testing procedures  between the operators,
aa)Tariff transparency: Informing and/or warning the calling user for the calls made to ported number,
bb) Checking period of porting request: The period in which the recipient operator send the porting request to donor operator for checking and donor operator's reply to recipient operator upon his check for the information of subscriber requesting for port,
cc)Submission period of porting request: The period between the application of the subscriber to the recipient operator in order to port his number and submission of such request to the donor operator together with the required information and documents submitted by the recipient operator,
dd)Administrative cost per ported number: Administrative expenses of the donor and recipient operators per ported number and expenses of the relevant operators in connection with the changes of the routing information within the context of the stated number,
ee)National numbering plan: Numbering plan that defines the structures of the numbers which can be divided into parts for providing information on routing, addressing, pricing or service type,
ff)Donor operator: The operator from whom the number is ported or  in a porting stage.


PART TWO
Principles, Rules and Procedures for Number Porting
Principles
ARTICLE 5-    (1) The following basic principles shall be observed in the enforcement of this By-Law:
a)Unless the objective reasons require the opposite, quantitative and qualitative continuity, non-discrimination, orderliness, efficiency, objectivity, openness, transparency and effective use of resources,
b)Number portability applications shall be in accordance with the country conditions, effective and long term solutions,
c)Enabling effective and sustainable competition,
d)Encouraging the practices that the users will benefit easily in reasonable conditions,
e)Protection of consumer rights.

Scope of the number portability
ARTICLE 6-   (1) Geographic numbers, non-geographic numbers and mobile numbers in the National Numbering Plan are within the scope of number portability.
(2) Operator number portability shall be conducted between the fixed electronic communication networks or between the mobile electronic communication networks.
(3) Geographic number portability shall be conducted without changing  the geographic meaning of the number
(4) Obligations, procedure and principles in connection with the location portability and/or service portability may be determined separately by the Authority.
(5) Subscriber numbers used for the GMPCS service are not within the scope of portability.
(6) Other issues specific to number types may be determined by the Authority.
(7) The number allocated to the subscriber shall be within the scope of portability as long as the subscription with the subject number continues.
Application for number porting
ARTICLE 7- (1) Number porting process starts upon the application of a subscriber with the request of number porting to the recipient operator in writing, by calling the customer services, via internet or other ways determined by the Authority. Without any request of the subscriber to this effect, number portability process shall not be initiated for the said subscriber. The subscriber shall apply to  the recipient operator and fill in  a form stating the number to be ported, identity information of the subscriber, donor operator information, contact details and the prefered porting time ; and a subscription agreement is made which will come into force by the actual porting of the number. By the stated application, it shall be deemed that the subscriber authorized the recipient operator for  submission  of the information required for  porting process and the carrying out the porting process by the recipient operator on behalf of him. Recipient operator shall be obliged to deliver the number portability application form of the subscriber along with the copies of the identity information and other relevant information and documents to donor operator electronically.   
(2) In the form to be filed, the subscriber will be informed about the rights and obligations he gets with number porting and the subscriber shall also be informed clearly that his present financial obligations against his current operator will not be terminated with number portability.
(3) Request of subscriber on porting his number means request for termination of his subscription agreement with the donor operator at the same time. The subscription agreement of the subscriber with the recipient operator shall be come into force with the actual porting of the number, and shall begin to have effect as of this date. The subscription agreement of the said subscriber with the donor operator shall be deemed as terminated as of the same date.
(4) The recipient operator submits the porting request  along with the identity information of the subscriber and porting time determined in accordance with the provisions of this By-Law to donor operator though  number portability system. 
Receiving the application and authentication
ARTICLE 8- (1) Following the receipt of the request for porting, the donor operator compare  the identity of the subscriber with its own records and sends  his reply to the recipient operator within the checking period of the porting request by checking  the date and time of requested porting. The stated authentication is made only for the purpose of verifying the number requested for port and the applicant, and apart from this, further information and document which complicate the process shall not be requested from the subscriber or recipient operator. Differences in the records with no doubt on the identity of the subscriber shall be reason for rejection of port.
(2) Within the context of the taken information, in case of the existence of one of the reason  stated in Article 10, donor operator reject  the porting request within the checking period of porting number. Following the receipt of the rejection  together with its reasons, the recipient operator informs the subscriber about this decision along with the respective reasons. In case of the removal of the deficiencies stated in the mentioned reason, application may be renewed.
(3) Operators shall act in a proper manner as depicted in the relevant legislation concerning the confidentiality of the personal information which has been received during number portability process. The information belong to the subscribers shall only be used within the context of number portability. Operators shall not use the information received during the porting process for the purpose of retention of subscriber and cancellation of number porting request.
Realization of number porting
ARTICLE 9- (1) Following the verification of the information made by the donor operator and determination of the porting date and time by the donor  operators, the agreed date and time are announced by the recipient operator to the subscriber who request for port and all relevant operators by the number portability system. This time shall be minimum one (1) and maximum two (2) days after the date that the donor operator sends its respond to the porting request. Until the porting time, operators shall make required changes in their systems in order to be ready for the porting time and date, by taking the information on routing and porting time. Actual porting will be conducted in the determined time that the service interruption is kept at minimum and the porting is conducted to ensure the number to be active on only one operator at the same time.
(2) Subscription agreement between the recipient operator and the subscriber comes into force by the actual porting. The donor operator sends an invoice to the subscriber, for the debts accrued in the period until the porting of the number. The said invoice shall be arranged by deducting the receivables of the subscriber such as deposit or advance payments, etc.
Criteria for rejection  of  number porting
ARTICLE 10- (1) The donor operator shall reject  the number porting request  in the conditions stated below and shall notify the recipient  operator together with the reasons:
a)Number  to be ported belongs to another subscriber,
b)Subscriber requesting for porting has a request to change his number within his existing  operator,
c)Identity information of the subscriber is incorrect or missing which could not be considered for proof of  the identity of the subscriber,
d)Existence of already initiated or still continuing number porting process for the requested number,
e)  Subscriber requesting for porting has a request in writing for cancellation or transfer of the subscription agreement in the existing operator,
f)  Subscription agreement with number holder is less than 3 month old.
(2) In addition to the rejection reasons mentioned in clause 1 of this article here above, the Authority may define rejection reasons regarding the geographic and non-geographic number portability.
Withdrawal right of the subscriber
ARTICLE 11- (1) Subscriber may withdraw his request of number porting by applying to the recipient operator any time before the announcement of porting time. In such case, the recipient operator notifies the donor operator about the withdrawal and cancel porting request accordingly.
The period to be applied with the scope of porting period
ARTICLE 12- (1) Within the scope of operator number portability, the periods that the operators are obliged to comply are as stated below.
a)Submission period of the porting request is maximum two (2) days.
b)Checking period of porting request is maximum two (2) days.
c)Announcement period of porting number is minimum one (1) day before the date determined for actual porting.
(2) Authority can make changes in above given periods for mobile, geographic and/or non-geographic number portability and operators are obliged to make the necessary arrangements in their systems accordingly.
Subsequent porting
ARTICLE 13 (1) For the subsequent ports and back porting, porting process stated in this By-Law shall be applied.
   (2) Authority, if necessary, may limit the number of use of number portability service for a subscriber number in a calendar year.

PART THREE
Conditions Concerning Ported Numbers
Usage Conditions
ARTICLE 14- (1) Ported numbers shall be used in compliance with the conditions stated below:
a)Ported numbers shall be used in compliance with the provisions of the relevant legislation and the number category of which they belong to.
b)Right of use fee concerning the ported numbers shall be paid by the number holder.
c)The operator to whom the number is allocated, shall not allocate the ported out number to another subscriber until subscription of the relevant subscriber has been terminated with the recipient operator and the said number have been returned to him.
d)Ported numbers shall not be transferred to another person by the recipient operator.

Return of a ported number
ARTICLE 15- (1) If the subscription agreement between a recipient operator and a subscriber who has ported his number terminated, and if the subscriber does not request to port his number to another operator, recipient operator shall return the said number to number holder at the latest within thirty (30) days. The operator who returned the number shall notify such situation to all other operators within thirty (30) days.

PART FOUR
Obligations of the Operators

Obligation of providing number portability
ARTICLE 16- (1) Operators to whom numbering resources mentioned herein clause 1 of article 6 are allocated and who allocate said numbers to its subscribers are obliged to provide number portability in accordance with this By-Law.

Obligation of call routing
ARTICLE 17- (1) Operators, regardless of having obligation for the provision of number portability, are obliged to route the calls originated from them or they carried to ported number correctly towards the recipient operator in accordance with the relevant legislation. Operators may take such services from another operator in compliance with the legislation as they may route the calls within this context directly by their own.
(2) All calls made to the ported numbers shall be routed in such a way that the delay in call set up kept at minimum.
(3) Operators who carry the call to ported numbers from abroad shall be deemed as originating operator of the call and obliged to route the call in accordance with the relevant legislation.
Obligations concerning the tariff transparency
ARTICLE 18- (1) Operators shall be obliged to take all the measures for tariff transparency as determined by the Authority. Operators shall provide a distinctive tone determined by the Authority to the calling subscriber. Instead of the tone obligation, Authority may impose other obligations to the operators for the purpose of consumer protection and tariff transparency in accordance with the relevant legislation.
(2) Furthermore, operators may provide information service to their subscribers via telephone, SMS or announcement through internet concerning the numbers ported in to their network or ported out numbers from their network and the tariffs applied for such numbers.
Obligation of information provision to the Authority
ARTICLE 19- (1) Operator, upon request of the Authority, shall provide below the  information stated below on January and July months of every year concerning the numbers ported out from his network or numbers ported into his network from other networks :
a)Number of ported out numbers from the operator's network,
b)Number of ported in numbers to operator's network,
c)Number of subscriber requesting for port from the operator's network,
d)Number of subscriber requesting for port in to the operator's network,
e)Amount of rejection for porting request and their reasons,
f)Average porting time conducted from/to the operator's network.

PART FIVE
Number Portability System

Establishment and operation of number portability system
ARTICLE 20- (1) Number portability system shall be established and/or operated by the Authority or by the operators who demands, in accordance with the Authority regulations The said system shall also be established and/or operated by the operators which are obliged to provide number portability or by the third parties in accordance with the principles and procedures determined by the Authority. The rules concerning the establishment and operation of the said system and the obligations of the operators shall be determined by the Authority. The cost allocation principles may be regulated by the Authority. The operators shall be obliged to make the necessary arrangements in their networks to connect and operate their system in line with the number portability system.
(2) Number portability system is connected to relevant operators' systems and is used for entering the porting requests, checking the request, keeping the information on ported numbers and routing information along with the exchange of information between the operators and similar transactions.  Number portability system shall not be used by the operators for the query of the called numbers during call set up.   
(3) The principles and procedures concerning the allocation of establishment costs of the number portability system by the operators may be determined by the Authority.

Operation of the number portability system
ARTICLE 21- (1) Operators are responsible for the establishment of the copies of number portability database in their networks, upgrade regularly and operate accordingly. Call queries during call set up are carried out by the operators via database exists in their systems.
(2) Other services and applications to be provided through number portability system are determined by the Authority.
(3) In case of failures in the operators' systems for number portability,  operators are obliged to take all necessary measures in order to remove the failure and in case of failure in their database records, operators can provide data concerning the ported numbers from other operators or number portability system.
PART SIX
Principles regarding Cost and Fees for
Number Portability
ARTICLE 22- (1) Fees concerning number portability shall be in compliance with the principles stated below:
a)Fees to be reflected to the subscriber directly within the context of number portability shall not impede the subscribers to take such services.
b)Donor operator shall not demand any fee periodically or as one time charge under any name from the subscriber porting the number within the context of number portability.
c)Charges between the operators concerning the number portability are determined within the framework of provisions of related legislation.
Cost items for number portability
ARTICLE 23- (1) Cost items for number portability consists of system set-up cost, administrative cost per ported number and additional conveyance cost.
System set-up cost
ARTICLE 24- (1) Operators shall bear the system set up cost derived from the system tests and modifications to be made in their current systems and installation of software and hardware systems in order to route the calls to the ported numbers or to provide number portability service.
Administrative cost per ported number
ARTICLE 25- (1) Donor operator may recover its administrative cost from the recipient operator through one time charge per ported out number. Such fee is determined by the Authority. In case the Authority decided that the stated fee is not cost-based; the fee shall be determined in a cost-based manner by the Authority. Until the Authority determine the cost-based fee, it may determine an upper limit by considering reasonably the different country examples and the cost structures of the operators. The fees determined by the Authority shall be binding.
(2) Recipient operator may demand a fee from the subscriber porting number to his network that will not impede the subscriber to benefit from such service. The Authority may arrange regulations in connection with such fees to be received from the subscriber if it seems necessary.
(3) Operators shall bear the cost of amendment to be made on routing information for the ported numbers. Costs of the subscriber occupied due to the cancellation of the subscription except number portability are not included as an administrative cost which will be met from the receiver operator by the donor operator.

Additional conveyance cost
ARTICLE 26- (1) Operator originating a call to a ported number shall bear the possible additional conveyance cost.

PART SEVEN
Other Provisions
Number portability routing codes
ARTICLE 27- (1) Number portability routing codes are determined by the Authority and allocated to relevant operators. Operators are obliged to define the allocated routing codes in their networks and make necessary arrangements in order to ensure the routing of calls correctly.
Consumer rights and informing of consumers
ARTICLE 28- (1) Operators shall take all kinds of measures in order to ensure the customers to enjoy from the said services with the best conditions and to reach them to the information about the service easily.
(2) Operators shall inform the customers on the application procedure for number porting, required information and documents during the application, porting period, information on applicable fee for porting and similar issues; and publish such information in the websites.
Quality of Service
ARTICLE 29- (1) Quality of service criteria applied on the numbers, which are not ported, are also applied for the ported numbers.
Settlement of Disputes
ARTICLE 30- (1) In the disputes concerning the access and interconnection fees, the settlement procedure depicted in the By-Law on Access and Interconnection which was published in the Official Gazette dated 14 June 2007 and numbered 26552 shall be applied. For the disputes concerning other fees described in this By-Law, following the operators' application to the Authority on the disputes which are not settled within thirty (30) days between the operators, the Authority shall require the justified requests and proposals about the fees from the concerned parties in fifteen (15) days. Subsequently, the Authority shall set an upper limit for such fees by considering the said requests and proposals by also taking into consideration the international practices and predicted cost elements.

PART EIGHT
Various and Last Provisions
Administrative sanctions
ARTICLE 31 (1)  In case the activities of the operators  do not comply with the number portability conditions and regulations, administrative fine and other sanctions are implemented in accordance with the article sixty (60) of law.

By-Law abolished
ARTICLE 32 (1) Number Portability By-Law which was published in the Official Gazette dated 1 February 2007 and numbered 26421 has been abolished.

References
ARTICLE 33 (1) References made to the Number Portability By-Law published in the Official Gazette dated 1 February 2007 numbered 26421 shall be deemed as made to this Ordinance.

Commencement date of the enforcement
Provisional article 1 – (1) Operators are obliged to enforce geographic and non geographic number portability until 10 September 2009 and to make the necessary arrangement according to the relevant provisions of this By-Law.
(2) Operators, already implemented number portability before this By-Law came into force, shall be obliged to make the changes arised from this Ordinance until 10 September 2009.

Entry into force
ARTICLE 34 – (1) This Ordinance shall come into force on the date of publication.

Execution
ARTICLE 35 – The provisions of this By-Law shall be executed by the Chairman of the Board.