Under the Mobile Number Portability Act, prepaid and postpaid subscribers can switch networks and keep the same number. Oh, and telcos can’t lock-in mobile devices anymore

Starting Sep. 30, both prepaid and postpaid subscribers can switch networks and keep their mobile phone number free of charge.

This is one of the provisions of Republic Act 11202 or the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Act, which was originally signed into law in February 2019. The National Telecommunications Commission said the law’s implementation was deferred from the first three months of 2021 to later this year because of the pandemic.

[READ: You can keep your mobile number for life under this new law]

How to apply to keep your number

Under the act, subscribers only have to submit a porting application, an application sent to telcos to avail of the mobile number porting feature aka the ability to retain their number after switching to another network. Any subscriber should be able to avail of this as long as they have no existing financial obligations to their original network. 

There’s no charge for switching networks or for switching from a prepaid subscription to a postpaid one.

According to the law, a telco must change the type of subscription from postpaid to prepaid or vice versa within 24 hours from the time a subscriber submits the porting application.

Devices can also be unlocked on demand, free of charge, regardless of lock-in periods set by the network, as long as the subscriber complies with all requirements under the new law.

Local telcos Globe, Smart, and new player Dito—expected to launch this March—have formed a consortium called Telecommunications Connectivity, which will oversee the porting applications. The consortium tapped Florida-based technology firm Syniverse to handle the porting platform.