Phone numbers to be truly "portable" by end-2007

"The Infocomm Development Authority says phone numbers will be truly "portable" by the end of next year. This means consumers can switch between service providers and yet have full use of their existing mobile and fixed phone lines. IDA says this will result in greater competition among the telcos and create more business opportunities. Ultimately, consumers stand to gain from the changes. With the new regime, it means consumers can have just one number when they switch between mobile service providers. Currently subscribers get in essence a call forwarding service where a call to the old number is merely forwarded to the new one and callers will see the new number. But under true number portability, such inconveniences will be a thing of the past. The number portability will be extended to mobile pre-paid subscribers and fixed lines as well. Fixed-line operators will also have to stop recurring monthly transfer or porting service charges. There will be a one-time administration charge that will be 'reasonably' priced. IDA also urges operators to reduce existing porting time-frames, from the current five days to less than a day or merely hours. So it will be a win-win situation for consumers, as the move is also expected to reap more benefits. IDA's Deputy Chief Executive, Leong Keng Thai, said: "Now, the operators have to work even harder to retain you as a customer, think of new ways of attracting new customers and because of added competitiveness, this will lead to better deals for consumers." There will also be a neutral centralised database, to make it easier to port numbers. Mr Leong said: "And in terms of confidentiality, I would like to assure consumers that with such a regime, there will be added security and confidentiality that consumer data are well protected as all this data will be centralised with a neutral administrator." Subscribers welcome the news but some still have concerns. "Probably, it's the confidentiality and the central database involved and privacy is being infringed. You will not really feel safe," said a consumer. Singapore's three telcos are expected to be hardest hit by the changes. It is estimated that they will each have to spend $10m to $20m to upgrade their networks with the central database"

Was quite happy about this piece of news, as I currently have a retained line with M1, which is my old number and my current number, which is a Singtel line. My brother is also in the same situation as me, having switched to Singtel last Saturday. Mum was complaining that both our numbers are harder to remember now. My brother & my number at M1 used to be quite close together, which was what that made it easier for us to remember. M1 did not make us have to wait if we wanted a choice number, whereas Singtel, if we have a number in mind, we have to wait for two days before the number is activated. This explains why I still prefer my old M1 number but with Singtel, as it is defintely has better reception and my bill has been cheaper by about 30% since I switched telcos.

Still waiting for my second set of IRAS award photos via e-mail. I spoke to the Corporate Communications Officer today. She say she will send me the photos via e-mail but I haven't received any. I will call her again tomorrow to see if she sent to the wrong address.