BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/11/2006

Mobile Number Portability Being Considered in Belarus

Belarus's third mobile operator, BeST, has indicated that mobile number portability (MNP) could one day be introduced in the country, reports Prime-Tass Belarus. BeST Deputy General Director Sergei Poblaguyev broached the topic at a mobile services forum earlier this week. However, he mentioned that such a scheme could cost up to US$5 million, and would take several years to implement, as it would require a "hardware-software complex that will contain the array of numbers and information [on] which number belongs to this or that network".

Significance: Poblaguyev emphasised that MNP would benefit the user, by allowing subscribers to switch between operators while keeping the same number. He added that, ultimately, MNP would increase competition in the country's mobile market. Such a prediction carries weight when the effects of MNP in nearby Estonia are observed. The system was introduced in Estonia in January 2005, and although this had a marginal effect on churn levels in the country, it did stimulate the development and provision of a glut of new service packages from operators, as well as tariff adjustments. While customer behaviour and churn rates would be difficult to predict in Belarus in the wake of MNP, such competitive behaviour from operators would be likely. As well as BeST, there are two other GSM operators in Belarus: market leader Mobile Tele Systems and Mobile Digital Communications, as well as CDMA operator BelCel.

Source:

http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21160