MNP
(Mobile Number Portability) and LNP (Landline Number Portability) was
rescheduled for launch in May 2015 as stated in my blog article
entitled “MNP
and LNP coming in May 2015 - MNP and LNP in Jamaica delayed as Sheriff Julian
Robinson caught in a Telecom Providers Standoff”.
However,
it seems that they may be inkling for an earlier launched of MNP and LNP after
all after the delay as announced by State Minister in the Ministry of Science,
Technology, Energy, and Mining, Julian Robinson. This which meant that the
December 2014 deadline would be missed as stated in my blog article
entitled “State
Minister Julian Robinson has announced that MNP is delayed until December 2014
- ICT Roadmap in shambles as Fourth Delay Suggest Telecom Provider's Stalling
the Process”.
The
fault?
Telecom
Provider LIME was holding up the process
because they claim that Landline isn’t ready for porting as yet as claimed by
State Minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy, and Mining,
Julian Robinson. I suspect its more delay tactic and fear than an actual
problem, but that’s my opinion
The
OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation), the
stand-in Telecom Regulator until the real Telecom Regulator is set up as noted
in my blog
article entitled “New
Telecom Regulator finally coming by July 2014 - New Telecom Provider looking
for stability in the Jamaican Telecoms Market post-LNP and MNP by May 2014”,
has decided to move ahead with the MNP and LNP Process.
This
is a strong indication that Telecom Provider LIME
is ready for LNP and all the perils it entails!
This
as the OUR
Press Release on the NPA (Number Portability
Administrator) License since Wednesday October 1st 2014 lists
a TPPR
(Technical & Price Proposal Requirements Request) document for entities
wishing to bid for a single License to handle and manage a Number Portability
Central Reference Database and associated Automated Order Handling Process aka
a NPA (Numbering Portability Administrator) License as stated in the article “OUR
opens auction for single number Portability administrator licence”,
published Sunday, October 05, 2014, The
Jamaica Observer.
The
timeline are already set for the submission for the TPPR (Technical & Price
Proposal Requirements Request) Proposals for the license to handle and manage a
Number Portability Central Reference Database and associated Automated Order
Handling Process as stated in the article “OUR
hunts number Portability manager”, Published Sunday October 5, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner.
That
timeline is as shown below:
 |
The
TPPR closes on Monday December 1st 2014. The submitted proposals
then under evaluation by the OUR between Tuesday December 2nd 2014
and Wednesday December 31st 2014 so that by Monday January 5th
2015, a NPA can be chosen for the granting of the NPA license.
Hopefully,
this awardee will be able to get the Database up and running by Sunday May 31st
2015 at which point Number Portability will be a reality in Jamaica.
You
can check out the OUR
Press Release on the NPA (Number Portability
Administrator) License offer as well as download the Technical
& Price Proposal Requirements Request document itself for details on
how to submit a bid for the NPA license.
It’s
the first real indication that MNP and LNP will be coming in May 2015 and not
some idle promise by the State Minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology,
Energy, and Mining, Julian Robinson!
OUR and the Number Portability
Administrator - How the NPA Will be administered, preferably automated
The
Technical
& Price Proposal Requirements Request document is divided into the
following sections:
1.
SECTION A: TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS REQUIREMENTS
2.
SECTION B: INFORMATION TO APPLICANTS
3.
SECTION C: TERMS OF REFERENCE REGARDING THE PROVISION
OF NUMBER PORTABILITY ADMINITRATION SERVICE IN JAMAICA
4.
LIST OF PROPOSALS SUBMISSION FORMS
(ANNEXURES)
5.
LIST OF APPENDICES
For
those of my readers with a technical eye, the juicy technical stuff is in
Section C. Good to read in large font, as the font is a little small and
straining on the eye at times!
So
it’s clear folks if you’ve sat and read the Technical
& Price Proposal Requirements Request document; the NPA is nothing more
than a NPAS (Number Portability
Administration Service) that sits in-between each Telecom Operator
and handles a CRDB (Central Reference Database) and mediates requests for the
porting of numbers between the Telecom Providers via a COHS (Central Order
Handling System) as show in the graphic below.
 |
In
simpler terms, the NPA manages the Portability transactions between the Telecom
Provider, and relays information via SMS/
email to
the Telecom Provider, one being the Donor Telecom Provider and the other the
Recipient Telecom Provider and the subscriber to indicate that the porting of
the subscriber phone number actually took place.
According
to the Technical
& Price Proposal Requirements Request document, the physical facility
where the NPA is located is called a NPACH
(Number Portability Administration Clearinghouse) and doesn’t necessarily have
to be on Jamaican soil. In fact the CRDB and the COHS can
be located off the island, if no location within Jamaica can be found to host
the NPA’s function.
The
OUR Expects that the NPA’s Database will consist of the following:
1.
CRDB (Central Reference Database) - this stores Station codes and Exchange
codes for Each Telecom Provider in order to keep track of what numbers belong
to whom as well as changes in Telecom Provider after a person’s has put in a
request for porting a number
2.
COHS (Central Order Handling System) -
This is the front-end interface provided to the Telecom Providers to facilitate
the porting of number on request by customer of the Telecom Providers. This
effectively lends to the automation of the Number Portability process
That
each Data tuple in the Database is expected to have the following basic fields:
 |
The
usual requirements are detailed in the Technical
& Price Proposal Requirements Request document and are for a typical Database
as shown in the Service Level Requirements below:
 |
NPA and their CRDB and
COHS – How the NPACH is expected to mediate between Telecom Providers
This
is actually the interesting part.
Apparently
communications between the NPA and the Telecom Providers will be all over the
Internet and IP Based, if you take a gander at the communications protocols
that the OUR recommends in the Technical
& Price Proposal Requirements Request document:
1.
Transaction based communication (TCP/IP)
2.
File based communication (FTP, SFTP,
SCP)
3.
Web-based communication: HTML,
HTTP/SOAP, HTTPS/SSH
4.
Machine-Machine communication: XML
This
communication guideline guides the communications between the NPA and the Telecom
Providers mediated via the COHS. The Telecom Provider then the subscriber via
SMS/email that their porting transaction was successful or failed, all of which
is recorded in the CRDB as well by the Telecom Provider own porting Database.
The Telecom Provider will handle that themselves, making the NPA essentially invisible
to the subscriber.
The
below diagram indicates how a normal request to port a number will take place:
 |
0.
The subscriber goes to the Recipient
Telecom Operator and requests to open a new account and retain his existing
telephone number
1.
The Recipient Telecom Operator issues a
request for porting to the Donor Telecom Operator via the NPA.
2.
The NPA forwards the request to the
Donor Telecom Operator.
3.
The Donor Telecom Operator validates and
accepts the porting request, and sends an NP Request Confirmation via the NPA.
4.
The NPA forwards the confirmation
response to the Recipient Telecom Operator.
5.
The Recipient Telecom Operator carries
out the internal work establishing the new subscriber access. When the activation has been completed this
is confirmed by sending an NP Complete indication to the NPA.
6.
When the NPA receives NP Complete
indication from the Recipient Telecom Operator, the NPA sends the deactivation
request to the Donor Telecom Operator, sends a SMS/ email to the Subscriber
advising that their number is about to be ported, updates the central reference
Database with the new porting information on the number(s) in question and
distributes a DB Update to update the number Portability Database on all
participating networks with the new porting information.
7.
The Donor Telecom Operator deactivates
the number on its network; confirms by sending an NP deactivation complete
message to the NPA.
8.
The NPA forwards the NP deactivation
complete indication to the Recipient Telecom Operator.
Note
here that:
1.
Donor Telecom Operator is the Telecom
Operator from which the subscriber is porting their phone number
2.
Recipient Telecom Operator is the
Telecom Operator to which the subscriber is porting their phone number
And
how does the NPA make money? According to the OUR, they’re allowed to charge:
1.
An annual fee the Telecom Providers who
subscribe to the NPA’s NPAS
2.
A per transaction fee to the Recipient Telecom
Provider, all of which are subject to the regulatory approval of the OUR
NPA and NANP Number
Ranges – Despite problems, this’ll allow a Third Competitor to come to Jamaica
Good
to note that in their performance guidelines there is no reasonable expectation
as to how long a Porting request sent by a subscriber is expected to take. This
may be within an hour, a day or even a week. Also no specification as to the
cost to the consumer i.e. the upfront fee they’ll most likely be charged by the
Telecom Providers.
Even
more distressing, it appears to be a service you’ll have to do at the Telecom
Providers Offices across the island, as there is no mention of making the
Porting Process Online or via a smartphone App.
This
makes making me envision long lines of persons waiting to do a Porting request
at a Digicel or LIME Customer Care Desk,
akin to the long lines that I had to experience just to get a JUTC SmarterCard
as noted in my blog
article entitled “JUTC
SmarterCard Launch not very Smart – Options for KMTR commuters needed purchase
and top-up SmarterCard before Cashless Sunday”.
Still,
this has me giddy with excitement, being as I’ve been awaiting this for quite
some time.
MNP
and LNP are critical to Jamaica getting the additional number ranges via a new
NPA (Numbering Plan Area) or exchange Code from the NANP (North American
Numbering Plan) as noted in my blog article
entitled “OUR
applies for new Area Code for Jamaica - Competition in Telecoms in the coming
Hunger Games Catching Fire of Mobile Computing”.
The
next step is for Jamaica to get those Number ranges after the NPA (Numbering Portability
Administrator) has been established in May 2015. That may take another six (6)
months to a year to assess how well the series works as well as to iron out all
the kinks out of the System.
Once
the NANP grants the Number Ranges to the OUR and SMA, the Telecom Providers
makes adjustments in their Call routing Tables and the NPA administers their
usage in their CRDB , then the SMA (Spectrum Management Authority) and the OUR
can begin an Spectrum Auction anew.
This
time for additional spectrum to be sold for the provisioning of a 4G LTE (Long
Term Evolution) Network by a Third competitor, as by that time, there would be
an additional 8 million number ranges available for two (2) or more Telecom
Providers to enter what would be a
maturing Telecom Market!
Folks,
does this sound like a feasible plan? Can it be implemented? Or will it be
chaos like the JUTC SmarterCard rollout or even the crowds that greeted many
when the DL700 was launched?
Read
the documents and make your voice heard by writing/emailing the OUR via the
address below:
Office
of Utilities Regulation
3rd
Floor PCJ Resource Centre
36
Trafalgar Road
Kingston
10
Jamaica
W.I.
Tel:
(876) 968-6053 Fax: (876) 929-3635
Email:
consumer@our.org.jm
Website:
http://www.our.org.jm
Facebook
Page: facebook.com/officeofutilitiesregulation
Twitter
Page: https://twitter.com/theourja
Here’s
the link to the OUR Documents:
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