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Thai telcos to launch number portability

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CIOL Bureau
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BANGKOK, THAILAND: Thailand's five telecoms operators expected to launch number portability allowing mobile users to keep their number when shifting from one operator to another by December, a clearing house unit said on Tuesday.

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Number portability will be a big step in the liberalisation of the telecoms sector and is expected to ignite fierce competition in the market.

Clearing House for Number Portability Co Ltd, a joint venture of the five companies, planned to test the number portability system from Sept. 1, it said in a statement.

The five were mobile market leader Advanced Info Service Pcl ADVA.BK, second-ranked Total Access Communication Pcl DTAC.BK (TACC.SI), number three True Move, a unit of True Corp Pcl TRUE.BK, plus state-owned TOT Pcl and CAT Telecom Pcl.

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U.S technology firms International Business Machines Corp (IBM) and Telcordia Technologies would develop software and infrastructure for the launch, the statement said.

This month, Thailand's telecoms regulator rejected a request from mobile phone operators to delay the introduction of number portability to early 2011 and said it should be launch at some areas on Sept. 1.

Operators that fail to introduce it on time will face a fine of 20,000 baht ($635.7) a day.

Mobile firms had asked it to delay the introduction to early 2011 because of the impact of a volcano eruption in Iceland, which disrupted the arrival of equipment, plus domestic political unrest and technical problems.

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