More than Half a Million Ported Numbers in 2014

12.02.2015

Last year, 564,648 numbers were ported in Romania, standing for one third of the total 1,772,073 of numbers ported between the service launch and the end of 2014. Out of the 564,648 ported numbers, 479,938 are mobile and 84,710 are fixed telephone numbers. Since the launch of this service in Romania, 1,304,091 mobile telephony users and 467,982 fixed telephony users have made use of it.

The monthly average of ported numbers doubled in 2014 as compared to 2013, to 47,054 from 22,844. The most numerous telephone numbers were ported in December 2014 – 96,098. In the six years of number portability, an average amount of 15,020 numbers per month were ported in 2009, 18,435 in 2010, 21,688 in 2011, 21,324 in 2012 and 22,844 in 2013.

Since the launch of this service in Romania, on 21 October 2008, more and more Romanians switched operators, while keeping their number: in 2009 there were 180,239 ported numbers, in 2010 – 221,219, in 2011 – 260,256, in 2012 – 255,893, in 2013 – 274,137, while 2014 was a peak in the trend of ported numbers – 564,648.

Out of the total of 1,772,073 numbers ported until 31 December 2014, 1,304,091 are mobile telephone numbers – 74% of the total. The statistical data show that subscription-based users are the most interested in keeping their telephone number (approximately 67% of the total), whereas 33% of those who chose to change their provider use prepaid cards. In the mobile telephony segment, Vodafone is again the network to which the most numbers were ported, i.e. 398,148, followed by Orange with 369,031 numbers, Telekom Romania Mobile Communications – 318,233 numbers, RCS & RDS – 213,663 numbers and Telekom Romania Communications – 4,284 numbers.

In the case of fixed telephony, 37 providers received the 467,982 numbers ported so far. Most of these were ported to RCS & RDS – 130,936, UPC Romania – 111,375, Orange – 100,909, Vodafone – 81,162 and Telekom Romania Communications – 20,385. The largest number of porting requests for fixed telephone numbers was registered in Bucharest – 147,645 numbers, followed by the county of Cluj with 30,159 numbers, Timis – 24,689, Prahova – 22,580 and Galati – 21,458, i.e. more than 50% of the total amount of fixed telephone ported numbers.

Number portability gives full freedom of choice to telephony users as it enables them to keep their telephone number, while changing the telephony provider.

The internet users may visit for information www.portabilitate.ro, where they can find the network of any telephone number used in Romania, ported or not. The website offers details on the steps to be taken in order to port a telephone number, answers to frequently asked questions in case of porting a number, as well as advice for preventing possible problems in the porting process. The advice is provided based on the factual situations encountered by the users and submitted to ANCOM. Last year, ANCOM received 197 complaints from the users regarding the porting process, the main problems submitted being related to certain breakdowns occurred during the porting process, generated by the lack of synchronization between the providers involved, or to the failure to observe the porting deadlines.

The persons interested in learning more information on this topic may access the ANCOM webpage or the www.portabilitate.ro website. To be reassured that they are making the best and well-informed choice when they decide to change their provider, the users may visit www.veritel.ro, the offer comparison tool administered by the Romanian regulatory authority which enables them to compare between all the available offers of the telephony and internet operators.