Number portability to be introduced in March

By the end of the first quarter of the year, mobile subscribers in Argentina will be able to retain their number if they change service provider. Local newspaper La Nacion cites a website announcement from wireless operator Telecom Personal as saying that it will introduce mobile number portability for its pre- and post-paid subscribers in March 2012. Decree 764 of 2000 first approved the introduction of number portability, but it was not until a decade later, in August 2010, that the government ordered the regulation of the system. The legislation states that customers who port their number must remain with their new service provider for a minimum of 60 days. Number portability was scheduled to be introduced on 15 December 2011, but that deadline was subsequently delayed. In November that year communications software and services provider Telcordia and partner Telmark were selected to manage the introduction of number portability in Argentina.