Porting record in 2021: over 1.1 million ported numbers

In 2021, a record number of portings were registered, since the launch, in 2008, of the portability service, ANCOM announces. This year, 1,105,771 phone numbers changed their operator, but not their user. Of these, 1,050,900 (95%) are mobile numbers and 54,871 are fixed numbers. The monthly average number of goals for 2021 was 92,148 goals. In February, March and December, most phone numbers were ported (over 100,000 porters each month).

In 2021, 87% of the number of portings were made by individuals and 13% by legal entities, in the porting processes carried out this year involving 35 fixed and mobile telephony providers.

In total, since the introduction of the portability service in Romania in 2008, almost 8.4 million numbers have been transferred between networks. Of these, 7.4 million are mobile phone numbers (87%) and almost 1 million are fixed phone numbers.

Mobile phone

1,050,900 mobile numbers have switched to another provider in 2021. Most users opted for the RCS & RDS network – 561,953 numbers were ported to this network, while Orange received 152,939 numbers by port, Vodafone – 148,017, Telekom Romania Mobile Communications – 105,634, and Telekom Romania Communications 82,333 .

Of the 1,050,900 mobile phone numbers ported in 2021 , more than half, 54% (569,784), were numbers used on a subscription basis.

Fixed telephony

In 2021, 54,871 fixed telephone numbers were ported, representing 5% of the total numbers ported this year. Most of the ported fixed telephony numbers were divided between the main providers, as follows: RCS & RDS – 30,117, Vodafone – 6,926, Orange – 6,416, GTS Telecom – 5,487 and Voxbone – 2,481.

Of the 54,871 fixed numbers ported in 2021, 7,947 were location-independent numbers, toll-free numbers, and special rate numbers.

Over the past year, ANCOM has received 279 petitions on portability, with users reporting in particular the delayed performance of the porting process, the occurrence of technical problems in the porting process (such as the delay of messages entered by suppliers in the centralized database or routing issues), as well as issues related to port cancellation.

Good to know !

• Phone number portability gives users complete freedom of choice because it allows them to keep their phone number when changing their phone provider. ANCOM has created the portabilitate.ro website for information, where users can find out in which network any telephone number used in Romania works, if it has been ported, as well as tips to avoid possible problems that may occur during the porting process. .
• ANCOM provides support to operators for the proper conduct of porting processes, but cannot approve, reject or cancel porting requests (all of which are made by providers, at the request of users and in compliance with applicable law).

• Users who want to port their phone number are advised to check the contract they have with the current operator; If the minimum contract period has not expired, they will most likely be in a position to pay penalties for early termination of the contract, especially if a terminal has been purchased with the communications services.
• When the provider to which the number is ported provides a temporary number to be used until porting is complete, users are advised to carefully check the section dedicated to the provisional telephone number in the contract they are about to sign; thus, the situation in which the user can remain subscribed to two operators (donor and acceptor) can be avoided if the porting process is not completed.
• If the number is to be ported, users do not have to contact the provider whose services are being terminated in order to terminate the contract; Termination of the contract before porting the number could result in loss of number.
• In the case of mobile telephony, in order to see the quality of the signal from the provider’s network to which they want to port their number, in the areas of interest to them, users can consult the map aisemnal.ro , which includes the results of measurements made by the Authority in 2019 and 2020. made available to the public for this purpose. The map is to be updated with the results of the measurements made in 2021.

What is ANCOM?
ANCOM is the institution that promotes the interests of service users by promoting competition and innovation in the electronic communications and postal services markets, pro-competitive management of limited resources (radio spectrum, numbering resources and associated technical resources), encouraging efficient investments in networks and infrastructures. promoting ultra-fast connectivity. For more details about ANCOM’s activity, visit www.ancom.ro , www.portabilitate.ro and www.veritel.ro. To test and monitor the quality of your internet service, go to www.netograf.ro. To consult the coverage with mobile signal of the localities, national and county roads in Romania, access www.aisemnal.ro .