More than 10,000 phone numbers have been ported in Moldova since the portability service was launched in 2013. Some 91% of the numbers ported until September 15, 2015 are mobile phone numbers, while the rest are landline numbers, IPN reports, quoting the ICT regulator ANRCETI.

“This figure shows that the telephone users in our country make use of the number portability service and keep their number when they change the phone carrier. I’m convinced that much more users resort to this service in order to renegotiate the contracts. This thing has an impact on competition enhancement and the prices of telephone services,” said the ANRCETI director Grigore Varanita.

The over 100,000 numbers ported in July 2013 – September 2015 represent over 1.4% of all the numbering resources offered by the ANRCETI to phone carriers. About 3,700 mobile phone numbers and over 250 landline numbers were monthly ported in Moldova this year.

In the mobile phone sector, SA Moldcell continues to lead as the operator with the largest number of numbers accepted into its network by porting – over 54,700. It is followed by SA Orange Moldova with about 18,600 numbers and SA Moldtelecom (Unite) with 16,500 numbers. From the networks of SA Orange Moldova and SA Moldtelecom (Unite), there were ported over 61,400 and, respectively, 22,800 mobile phone numbers, while from the network of SA Moldcell - 5,200 numbers.

In the case of landlines, the 8,600 numbers were ported to the networks of 24 providers, mainly Starnet Solutii (over 4,600), SA Orange Moldova (2,100), and Arax Impex (over 500).

In the mobile phone networks, the number portability service was launched on July 1, 2013, while in the fixed-line networks – on July 31, 2013. The service is free of charge.