In 2018, the number of subscribers who used the number portability service rose by 9,200 on 2017 to 34,200. The service enables any user of mobile or landline phones to keep the phone number when changing the provider, IPN reports.

According to the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology, 32,000 of all the ported numbers were mobile phone numbers, while 2,200 were landline phone numbers. As many as 2,900 numbers were ported on average a month last year.

Of the 32,000 mobile phone numbers ported in 2018, over 14,000 were received into the own network by SA “Moldcell”, more than 9,500 by SA “Orange Moldova” and about 8,400 by SA “Moldtelecom” (Unite). At the same time, of the 2,200 ported landline numbers, 810 were ported from SA “Moldtelecom”, 634 from SRL “StarNet Soluții”, while 405 from SA “Orange Moldova”.

Since the number portability service was launched in July 2013, until the end of 2018, about 216,000 numbers were ported in Moldova. Of these, over 199,000 are mobile phone numbers, while 17,400 are landline numbers.

Under the regulations of the ICT regulator, any user of telephone services accessible to the public can benefit from the number portability service within five workdays of the submission of a relevant application to the chosen provider.