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ISSN 2079-8407
ABSTRACT
Increasing numbers of countries require mobile telephone networks to offer mobile number portability (MNP).The term MNP allows customers who wish to switch mobile operator to keep their mobile numbers, avoiding the costs of switching to new numbers. Customers are predominantly reluctant to switch their network operator if this means that they would have to change their telephone number. Changing ones telephone numbers can be a major inconvenience and a potential barrier preventing the general public from taking advantage of the options available in a developed competitive telecommunications market. The implementation of number portability initiatives in many key markets created new opportunities and improved the consumers experience, but terminating calls into number-portability countries became more difficult, confusing and expensive as a result. The absence of number portability may therefore give the incumbent operators a significant competitive advantage over new entrants into the market.
Keywords: mobile telecommunications, cost-benefit analysis, competitive, switching costs, operators.
I. INTRODUCTION
Mobile Number portability (MNP) enables mobile subscribers to change their service providers or their location without having to change their existing phone numbers. If the subscribers are not satisfied with the services of their service provider, they can change their service provider while retaining the existing phone number. This infuses competition among service providers and forces them to improve their service standards to check subscriber churn. Many countries have made number portability mandatory to liberalize competition. Many others are in the process of implementing it. A significant technical aspect of implementing number portability is related to the routing of calls or mobile messages (SMS, MMS) to a number once it is ported to some other network. Number portability is essential to maximize the benefits of a competitive telecommunications market. For example, Number Portability of the type that allows users to keep their telephone number when changing operator provides significant benefits: 1. To the porting user, it eliminates the cost of informing other parties of the number change, changing stationery and other signage and, in the case of business users, of lost business 2. To callers, it eliminates the need to consult directory enquires and/or change entries in their address books or computer systems. 3. It increases competition, with significant benefits for all users, by lowering the cost to users of switching operator or service provider. It is believed that when fully and nationally implemented by both wire line and wireless service providers, number portability will remove one of the most
significant switching costs for consumers and will encourage competition in the telecommunications industry. This paper discusses: Types of number portability. various call routing schemes for service provider number portability, comparisons among various routing schemes, challenges of implementing number portability, best solution in terms of complexity of implementation, use of network resources, and scalability.
NUMBER
A. Provider Number Portability: Subscribers can change the service provider while retaining the same phone number. It is also called operator portability. 1. Local Number Portability: - The subscriber retains its number when changing from one operator/service provider to another. E.g. the porting of existing directory number between fixed operators. 2. Mobile Number Portability:-Porting of mobile telephone numbers between wireless operators. 3. Non-geographical Number Portability:Porting of service numbers, e.g. 800numbers. B. Location Number Portability: Subscribers can change their service location while keeping the same telephone number.
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C. Service Portability: Subscribers can change the subscribed services while retaining the same telephone number. Service portability allows the subscribers to enjoy the subscribed services in the same way when they roam outside their home networks. The subscriber retains its number when changing service type. E.g. from POTS to ISDN, mobile to fixed, fixed to mobile. This paper discusses service provider number portability (SPNP), as SPNP is the primary form of number portability that promotes competition among the mobile service providers.
dialed number. The Originating Network uses the routing information to route the call to the new serving network.
II.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has defined four flavours of call routing that support number portability. These schemes are: A. All Call Query (ACQ) B. Query on Release (QoR) C. Call Dropback D. Onward Routing (OR) Before we discuss the technical aspects and various call routing schemes in detail, let us understand some terms in the context of mobile network and number portability.
C. Call Dropback
This scheme is also known as Return to Pivot (RTP). The call steps are as follows. The Originating Network receives a call from the caller and routes the call to the donor network. The donor network detects that the dialed directory number has been ported out of the donor switch and checks with an internal
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network-specific NPDB. The internal NPDB returns the routing number associated with the dialed directory number. The donor network releases the call by providing the routing number. The Originating Network uses the routing number to route the call to the new serving network.
III.
OF THE PORTABILITY
Of the four number portability call routing implementations discussed above, the ACQ is the only implementation that does not involve the donor network when routing the call to a new serving network. Thus, the ACQ scheme is the most efficient in terms of using the network resources for routing the call to a ported number. The OR scheme requires to setup two physical calls - one from the originating network to the donor network and the other from the donor network to the new serving network. This increases the usage of network resources and hence is the least efficient in terms of using the network transmission facilities. The QoR and Call Dropback schemes set up calls to the donor network first but release the call back to the originating network that then initiates a new call to the Current Serving Network. In the QoR and Dropback schemes, dedicated signalling circuits are set up between the originating network and the donor network when the originating network sets up the call towards the donor network. This complexity increases the signalling between the networks and hence the cost of the call to a ported number increases.
IV.
IMPLEMENTATION
There are two fundamental issues that need to be considered in implementing number portability in a country. Number Porting Process: This applies to the policies and processes for porting the numbers.
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1) Peer-to-Peer approach
In this approach, there is a bilateral agreement between two service providers. The two service providers agree on the implementation of number portability based on proprietary interface. With this non-standard approach, there can be multiple commercial agreements between the service providers, which make it difficult to manage the terms of each agreement, and track the porting requests. This approach is very complex, and the complexity is further increased with increasing number of service providers.
The centralized approach is the most preferred solution and is widely used across the globe. This is a highly scalable implementation.
2) Centralized approach
In this approach, the regulatory authority of the country sets up the guidelines, policies and processes for number portability. All the service providers in the country have a shared and well-defined interface with a centralized NP administration center for processing the porting request of a number. This adheres to a clear set of service level agreements for each of the steps involved in the process and it is mandatory for the service providers to follow them.
B. Call Routing
As discussed earlier, All Call Query (ACQ) scheme is the most efficient in terms of using network resources. The advantages of using ACQ to implement number portability are: No dependency on other network for routing the call. Easy billing for calls to the ported numbers. Call set-up time for calls to ported numbers is minimal. Minimal impact on signaling. Impact on network complexity is very less.
V.
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SUCCESS OF NUMBER PORTABILITY Subscriber Awareness: Subscribers needs to be aware of Number Portability (NP), its advantages, and how to go about it. Simplicity: NP success mainly depends on the simplicity of the process. There could be many rules that the regulator may impose. For example, a number cant be ported in the first 6 months of the subscription. Such forced conditions hamper the success of NP. Speed: Speed is one of the major factors that affect the success of NP. Service level agreements should be stringent enough to minimize the time taken to port the number to other network. This increases the level of customer satisfaction Cost factor: NP success also depends on the cost of porting the number. The lower the cost, the higher will be the rate of porting. The cost here refers to the amount that the subscribers
4
Fig 5 Peer to Peer Approach
Any porting request from any of the service providers is sent to the NP administration center first, to which all the service providers number portability solutions are integrated with. A request that comes from the new SP to the NP administration center is sent to the present serving SP for clearance and once this is done the central NP administration center broadcasts the porting information to all the service providers in the country. As specified above, the porting request can be initiated by either of the current serving SP or the new SP (recipient). This is decided by the regulatory body of the country.
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need to pay to port their number to some other service providers network. This all depends on the regulatory authority that decides who bears the cost of porting. For better success and market competition, it is recommended that the new service provider, who is getting the subscriber, bear the cost of porting.
maintenance cost includes the following: Cost for the agreed procedure involved in the porting process, activating the ported number, provisioning the routing information, and informing all the service providers of the ported number
VI.
OF NUMBER
VII.
SOLUTION
The major challenges of implementing number portability are: Cost involved in upgrading the network infrastructure to support number portability. Cost involved in maintaining the upgraded infrastructure. Cost involved in the usage of network resources to route the calls to the ported number
Many countries have their own guidelines on how to share the costs incurred in NP implementation. Regulatory bodies can consider the following points in arriving at a better model for cost sharing to implement number portability. Number of subscribers per service provider should be the base at the time of setting up the NP System. The service providers can incur the annual maintenance costs for using the service of the central NPDB. This can be for the services used such as NPDB system and customer help desk usage. These costs should be based on the usage of the central NPDB or based on the quality of service such as the bandwidth for accessing the central NPDB. Recipient service provider can pay for the costs incurred by the centralized NPDB for any subscriber that ports to its network. Recipient service provider can pay for the costs incurred by the donor for each ported number. The central NPDB should be a non-profitable or at most a reasonable profit making organization and there should be a policy to share the profits with the service providers to lower their burden. Service providers can be made stakeholders in the central NPDB, though the regulatory body shall have the sole discretionary powers to control the NPDB.
B. Np Maintenance Costs
Once the NP system is deployed, there are many other costs involved in maintenance of the system. The
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REFERENCES
Yi-Bing Lin, Mobile Number Portability, IEEE Network Young Sic Jeong, Whan Woo Kim, The Realization of Mobile Number Portability in Korea, IEEE Network Rajeev Ranjan Kumar, Amrita Singh, A. Damodaram, Phone Number Portability in GSM networks, CSI Vol. 32, Issue-7, Oct.2008. Telecommunication N/W Management Haojin Wang http://www.mobilein.com/MNP.htm http://previewcareers.aricent.com/in/whitepapers/ mobile-services/mnp.pdf http://www.stockmarketsreview.com/news/mobile _number portability_in_india_20090626/
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IX.
CONCLUSION
To implement number portability, the best solution is to implement the centralized system, maintain a common number porting database, and use the All Call Query (ACQ) call routing scheme to route the calls to a ported number. A trusted 3rd party, which typically reports to the telecom regulatory authority, can maintain the centralized number porting database. The number portability gives freedom to subscriber to choose best service provider. Also service provider has to be competitive to attract the customer. This will encourage competition among the service providers, and in turn will reduce the tariff. From subscribers point of view it reduces cost, time and money. From service providers point of view specific network maintenance activities need to be done to ensure proper operation of the number portability service over time.