Vietnam’s major carriers pilot mobile number portability

The service, scheduled to be officially rolled out as of December 31 this year, is expected to be of great benefit to mobile users as they will be able to freely choose a service provider without losing their current numbers.

It is also expected to remove barriers to new carriers that wish to join this competitive market, whilst helping regulators to efficiently manage the number resources.

The MNP service will be implemented through a centralised system, which caters to the needs of subscribers of all domestic carriers.

Currently only mobile subscribers of Mobifone and Vinaphone can change to Viettel, while changing in the opposite direction is not yet available.

According to a draft circular released by the Ministry of Information and Communications, it will take no more than seven days from the time a MNP request is submitted and a subscriber must remain with a carrier for at least 90 days before changing to another one.

The MNP service was initially implemented in the late 1990s and is now available in more than 90 countries and territories around the world.