Telephone number portability will be used in Moldova from 2012 for mobile phone lines and from 2013 for fixed lines, Info-Prim Neo reports. The local number portability refers to the ability to transfer either an existing fixed-line or mobile telephone number assigned by a local exchange carrier and reassign it to another carrier. The terms of 2012 and 2013 were set in the plan drafted and presented by the national regulator for electronic communications and information technology in a meeting of the working group for implementing number portability in Moldova. According to the national regulator, the service will enable greater freedom of choice for the users and will oblige the providers to make effort to maintain and attract the clients by more attractive services at accessible prices. In the long term, number portability will lead to the narrowing of the discrepancy between the prices of conversations in the line and those outside the line. In 2011, the national regulator for electronic communications and information technology will hold a contest to select the entity that will compile and administer the necessary centralized database.