Canadian wireless customers will have to wait until 2007 to keep their phone numbers when they switch to a new carrier, the country's major telephone companies announced yesterday in a move that attempts to address public demands while also protecting their customer bases.
The ability to keep a phone number is sure to be welcomed by consumers who feel trapped into staying with their current carrier because they don't want the hassle of switching. But it comes at a yet unknown cost to the wireless firms. They must foot the bill for the introduction, which could lead to greater competition in the wireless market.
A pilot trial for portable wireless numbers is planned for mid-2007, with national availability in September, 2007, the wireless industry revealed yesterday.
It's a timeline that one recent entrant deemed as too slow.
"Consumers are losing out by not being offered the option of permanently owning their mobile phone numbers," Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Mobile Canada, said in a statement.
"It's obvious that the big carriers are dragging their heels on giving customers the freedom they deserve because it works to their advantage -- it helps to keep their customers locked in with one carrier."
However, Peter Barnes, president of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), called the plan "aggressive," noting the United States took seven years to roll out portable wireless numbers. And Canada is introducing it nationally, instead of in phases.
It's creating a lot of work for wireless firms such as Bell Mobility, Telus Mobility and Rogers Wireless Inc. The companies must update billing platforms and sales processes among other tasks, according to Mr. Barnes. The industry is making numbers portable from wireless to wireless, along with wireline to wireless.
"Two years is an aggressive and reasonable schedule," Mr. Barnes said yesterday in an interview.
Wireless carriers came under pressure to introduce portable cellphone numbers after the federal government in February asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to move expeditiously to implement it. In April, the carriers announced they had reached an agreement on portable numbers, and later selected PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to develop a plan to do so. The report was completed earlier this month, recommending the 2007 implementation date.
The United States started a lot earlier. The Federal Communications Commission decided in 1996 that there should be portable wireless numbers by 1999. The wireless industry was granted several extensions, with eventual implementation in November, 2003.
Wireless customers in this country only started requesting the right to keep their numbers over the past year, Mr. Barnes said.
Once numbers are made portable, the industry will likely have to brace for increased customer turnover, known as churn.
PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated in its report that 765,000 numbers will be switched from one wireless carrier to another during the first year. It also expects 85,000 landline-to-wireless transfers in the period.
CIBC World Markets analyst Dvai Ghose said the U.S. experience suggests fears about customer turnover with portable wireless numbers are overblown. He pointed to companies like Verizon Communications Inc., which reported less churn in 2004 than in the previous year.
"It's obvious that the big carriers are dragging their heels on giving customers the freedom they deserve because it works to their advantage -- it helps to keep their customers locked in with one carrier."
However, Peter Barnes, president of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), called the plan "aggressive," noting the United States took seven years to roll out portable wireless numbers. And Canada is introducing it nationally, instead of in phases.
It's creating a lot of work for wireless firms such as Bell Mobility, Telus Mobility and Rogers Wireless Inc. The companies must update billing platforms and sales processes among other tasks, according to Mr. Barnes. The industry is making numbers portable from wireless to wireless, along with wireline to wireless.
"Two years is an aggressive and reasonable schedule," Mr. Barnes said yesterday in an interview.
Wireless carriers came under pressure to introduce portable cellphone numbers after the federal government in February asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to move expeditiously to implement it. In April, the carriers announced they had reached an agreement on portable numbers, and later selected PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to develop a plan to do so. The report was completed earlier this month, recommending the 2007 implementation date.
The United States started a lot earlier. The Federal Communications Commission decided in 1996 that there should be portable wireless numbers by 1999. The wireless industry was granted several extensions, with eventual implementation in November, 2003.
Wireless customers in this country only started requesting the right to keep their numbers over the past year, Mr. Barnes said.
Once numbers are made portable, the industry will likely have to brace for increased customer turnover, known as churn.
PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated in its report that 765,000 numbers will be switched from one wireless carrier to another during the first year. It also expects 85,000 landline-to-wireless transfers in the period.
CIBC World Markets analyst Dvai Ghose said the U.S. experience suggests fears about customer turnover with portable wireless numbers are overblown. He pointed to companies like Verizon Communications Inc., which reported less churn in 2004 than in the previous year.
© The Globe and Mail
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