Whitepaper

Mobile Number Portability

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Implementation, Challenges and Solutions
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CONTENTS

1. Introduction 4

2. Types of Number Portability 4

3. Service Provider Number Portability Schemes 4

3.1 All Call Query (ACQ) 4
3.2 Query on Release (QoR) 5
3.3 Call Dropback 5
3.4 Onward Routing (OR) 5

4. Comparisons of the Number Portability Schemes 5

5. Versions in ACQ scheme 6

6. Implementation 6
6.1 Number Porting Process: Procedure and Considerations 6
6.2 Call Routing 7

7. Typical Flow of Porting Data 7

8. Factors Influencing Success of Number Portability 7

9. Challenges of implementing number portability 8

9.1 Number Portability Setup Costs 8
9.2 NP maintenance costs 8
9.3 Call routing costs 8

10. Solution 8

11. Conclusion 8

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1. INTRODUCTION
Mobile Number portability (MNP) enables mobile subscribers to . Call Dropback
change their service providers or their location without having . Onward Routing (OR)
to change their existing phone numbers. If the subscribers are
not satisfied with the services of their service provider, they can Before we discuss the technical aspects and various call routing

change their service provider while retaining the existing phone schemes in detail, let us understand some terms in the context of

number. This infuses competition among service providers and mobile network and number portability.

forces them to improve their service standards to check subscriber . Donor Network: It is the network that first assigns a telephone

churn. Many countries have made number portability mandatory to number to a subscriber

liberalize competition. Many others are in the process of . Recipient Network: It is the network that currently serves the

implementing it. A significant technical aspect of implementing ported number. A recipient network is a network that a

number portability is related to the routing of calls or mobile subscriber’s number is ported to when the subscriber switches

messages (SMS, MMS) to a number once it is ported to some the service provider

other network. This paper discusses: . Old Serving Network: The old serving network is the network

. types of number portability that previously served the ported number before the number was

. various call routing schemes for service provider number ported to the new serving network. Since a subscriber can switch

portability service provider any number of times, the old SP is not

. comparisons among various routing schemes necessarily the same as the donor network

. challenges of implementing number portability . Participant: A Participant is a service provider who is not related

. best solution in terms of complexity of implementation, use of to the porting process in any way and still needs the routing

network resources, and scalability information for call routing and various other activities.

3.1 ALL CALL QUERY (ACQ)

2. TYPES OF NUMBER PORTABILITY . The Originating Network receives a call from the caller and

The various types of number portability are: sends a query to a centrally administered Number Portability

. Service Provider Number Portability: Subscribers can change Database (NPDB) also called central database (CDB)

the service provider while retaining the same phone number. It is . Network operators generally keep local copies of the CDB, which

also called operator portability is hosted on either a network element within their network or a

. Location Number Portability: Subscribers can change their third party network element

service location while keeping the same telephone number . The NPDB returns the routing information of the dialed number

. Service Portability: Subscribers can change the subscribed . The Originating Network uses the routing information to route the

services while retaining the same telephone number. Service call to the new serving network

portability allows the subscribers to enjoy the subscribed

services in the same way when they roam outside their home
NP Donor Network
networks Database

This paper discusses service provider number portability (SPNP), 1 2

as SPNP is the primary form of number portability that promotes
3
competition among the mobile service providers. Originating Network Recipient Network

3. SERVICE PROVIDER NUMBER PORTABILITY CALL

ROUTING SCHEMES
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has defined four Illustration1: All-Call-Query Scheme

flavors of call routing that support number portability. These

schemes are:
. All Call Query (ACQ)
. Query on Release (QoR)

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3.2 QUERY ON RELEASE (QoR) 3.4 ONWARD ROUTING (OR)

. The Originating Network receives a call from the caller and . The Originating Network receives a call from the caller and
routes the call to the donor network routes the call to the donor network
. The donor network releases the call and indicates that the dialed . The donor network detects that the dialed directory number has
number has been ported out of that network been ported out of the donor switch and checks with an internal
. The Originating Network sends a query to its copy of the network-specific NPDB
centrally administered NPDB . The internal NPDB returns the routing number associated with
. The NPDB returns the routing information of the dialed number the dialed directory number
. The Originating Network uses the routing information to route the . The donor network uses the routing number to route the call to
call to the new serving network the new serving network
. This method of routing calls is also known as Call Forwarding
2
NP Donor Network
2
Database 1 Central Internal
Donor Network NP
NP
1 3 Database
Database
3 4
4

Originating Network 5 Recipient Network Originating Network Recipient Network

Illustration4: Onward Routing Scheme

Illustration2: Query-On-Release Scheme

3.3 CALL DROPBACK

This scheme is also known as “Return to Pivot (RTP).” The call
steps are as follows.
. The Originating Network receives a call from the caller and
routes the call to the donor network
. The donor network detects that the dialed directory number has
been ported out of the donor switch and checks with an internal
network-specific NPDB
. The internal NPDB returns the routing number associated with
4. COMPARISONS OF THE NUMBER PORTABILITY SCHEMES
Of the four number portability call routing implementations
discussed above, the ACQ is the only implementation that does not
involve the donor network when routing the call to a new serving
network. Thus, the ACQ scheme is the most efficient in terms of
using the network resources for routing the call to a ported number.
The OR scheme requires to setup two physical calls - one from the

the dialed directory number originating network to the donor network and the other from the

. The donor network releases the call by providing the routing donor network to the new serving network. This increases the

number usage of network resources and hence is the least efficient in

. The Originating Network uses the routing number to route the terms of using the network transmission facilities.

call to the new serving network

The QoR and Call Dropback schemes set up calls to the donor

2 network first but release the call back to the originating network
Central 4 Internal
Donor Network
NP NP that then initiates a new call to the Current Serving Network.
1 3 Database
Database

In the QoR and Dropback schemes, dedicated signaling circuits

are set up between the originating network and the donor network
Originating Network 5 Recipient Network when the originating network sets up the call towards the donor
network. This complexity increases the signaling between the
networks and hence the cost of the call to a ported number
increases.

Illustration3: Call Dropback Scheme

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5. VERSIONS IN ACQ SCHEME

There are two possible versions of ACQ scheme. In the first one,
the originating network always queries the NPDB when a call is
received from the caller regardless of whether the dialed number
belongs to any number range that is portable or has at least one
number ported out. Number range covers a contiguous range of
numbers within that range. Once a number within a particular
range has ported away from the donor network, all numbers in that
range are considered potentially ported.
interface. With this non-standard approach, there can be multiple
commercial agreements between the service providers, which
make it difficult to manage the terms of each agreement, and
track the porting requests. This approach is very complex, and the
complexity is further increased with increasing number of service
providers.
Service Provider 1
Service Provider 2

The other version is to check whether the dialed number belongs

to any number range that is portable or has at least one number
Service Provider 5
ported out. If yes, an NPDB query is sent. If not, no NPDB query Service Provider 3
is sent. The former performs best when there are many portable
number ranges. The latter performs best when there are not too
many portable number ranges. The latter ACQ scheme is similar to Service Provider 4

the QoR scheme, except that the QoR scheme uses call setup and
relies on the donor network to indicate “number ported out” before Illustration5: Peer-to-Peer Approach

initiating the NPDB query.

6.1.2 Centralized approach
In this approach, the regulatory authority of the country sets up the
guidelines, policies and processes for number portability. All the
6. IMPLEMENTATION
service providers in the country have a shared and well-defined in-
There are two fundamental issues that need to be considered in
terface with a centralized NP administration center for processing
implementing number portability in a country.
the porting request of a number. This adheres to a clear set of ser-
. Number Porting Process: This applies to the policies and
vice level agreements for each of the steps involved in the process
processes for porting the numbers
and it is mandatory for the service providers to follow them.
. Call Routing: This applies to the scheme of routing a call to a
ported number.
Any porting request from any of the service providers is sent to
the NP administration center first, to which all the service provid-
6.1 NUMBER PORTING PROCESS: PROCEDURE AND
ers’ number portability solutions are integrated with. A request that
CONSIDERATIONS
comes from the new SP to the NP administration center is sent
Number porting process involves a set of parties, which includes
to the present serving SP for clearance and once this is done the
donor (or current serving SP), recipient (new SP) and many par-
central NP administration center broadcasts the porting informa-
ticipants (other service providers not related to the number that is
tion to all the service providers in the country. As specified above,
being ported). The basic requirement of the porting process is that
the porting request can be initiated by either of the current serving
a subscriber needs to initiate a request to the service provider. The
SP or the new SP (recipient). This is decided by the regulatory
request can be initiated to either of the service providers (current
body of the country.
serving SP or the new SP). This depends on the regulatory policies
of the country.
Central number portability
administration
There are two approaches by which the number porting database center and database

can be maintained and implemented.

SOAP/CORBA/XML/Q.3
. Peer-to-Peer approach
. Centralized approach Service Provider
Gateway
Service Provider
Gateway
Service Provider
Gateway

6.1.1 Peer-to-Peer approach Local Local Local

NPDB NPDB NPDB
In this approach, there is a bilateral agreement between two
Service Provider Service Provider Service Provider
service providers. The two service providers agree on the 1 2 n

implementation of number portability based on proprietary

Illustration6: Centralized Approach

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Central number portability

The centralized approach is the most preferred solution and is administration
center and database
widely used across the globe. This is a highly scalable
Service Provider SOAP/CORBA/XML/Q.3
implementation. Domain

Local Service Provider Local

NP Gateway NPDB
6.2 CALL ROUTING
Provisioning to the
As discussed earlier, All Call Query (ACQ) scheme is the most respective network element

efficient in terms of using network resources. The advantages of

using ACQ to implement number portability are: Billing
Customer Other
HLR relationship network
System
management elements
. No dependency on other network for routing the call
. Easy billing for calls to the ported numbers
. Call set-up time for calls to ported numbers is minimal Illustration8: Flow of porting data

. Minimal impact on signaling

. Impact on network complexity is very less
7. TYPICAL FLOW OF PORTING DATA
The porting request once given by the subscriber to the service
provider (new or current serving SP) is forwarded to the central
clearing administrator. The actual porting process starts from the
central clearing administrator.
8. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SUCCESS OF NUMBER
PORTABILITY
. Subscriber Awareness: Subscribers needs to be aware of
Number Portability (NP), its advantages, and how to go about it
. Simplicity: NP success mainly depends on the simplicity of the
process. There could be many rules that the regulator may
impose. For example, a number can’t be ported in the first 6
months of the subscription. Such forced conditions hamper the
success of NP
. Speed: Speed is one of the major factors that affect the success
of NP. Service level agreements should be stringent enough to
minimize the time taken to port the number to other network. This
increases the level of customer satisfaction

France 30

Portugal 20

Spain 5
Countries

Finland 5

Belgium 2

Australia 1

USA 1

Illustration7: Typical Business Flow 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

No. of days
The administrator clears the number based on the policies and
Illustration9: Porting time (days) in various countries
processes agreed upon by both the service providers (donor and
recipient), the number is marked as ported and the administrator
. Cost factor: NP success also depends on the cost of porting the
or the central clearing house broadcasts the complete information
number. The lower the cost, the higher will be the rate of porting.
to all the service providers in the country or as registered with the
The cost here refers to the amount that the subscribers need to
central clearing authority.
pay to port their number to some other service provider’s network.
This all depends on the regulatory authority that decides who bears
the cost of porting. For better success and market competition, it is
recommended that the new service provider, who is getting the
subscriber, bear the cost of porting.

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. Handset subsidies and fixed-term agreements : NP has been a
great success in the countries like Finland where there are no
subsidies on mobile handsets. Subsidies given by the service
providers leads to fixed term agreements and hence limits the
option for the subscriber to switch to a different service provider.
There can be other agreements, which can hinder the success
of NP.
9. CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING NUMBER PORTABILITY
The major challenges of implementing number portability are:
. Cost involved in upgrading the network infrastructure to support
number portability
. Cost involved in maintaining the upgraded infrastructure
. Cost involved in the usage of network resources to route the calls
to the ported number
9.1 NUMBER PORTABILITY SETUP COSTS
This is one of the major deterring factors for NP implementation
in any country. There are many expenses involved in NP system
setup. The setup costs include the cost of setting up the central
NPDB, which maintains the complete information on the porting
details, providing a well-defined interface for the service
providers to interact with apart from adhering to the policies setup
by the telecom regulatory. Apart from these all the service
providers need to have NP gateway server capable of interacting
with the central NPDB using the defined application programming
interface (API). The NP gateway should, apart from maintaining an
internal NPDB, provision the routing information to the respective
network elements. Apart from these, upgrading the network adds to
the cost. The service providers are supposed to bear these costs.
The setup costs includes:
. Central NPDB setup cost
. Software development or upgrade
. Network upgrade
. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) upgrade
. Cost involved in upgrading the billing system
9.2 NP MAINTENANCE COSTS
Once the NP system is deployed, there are many other costs
involved in maintenance of the system. The maintenance cost
includes the following:
. Cost for the agreed procedure involved in the porting process
. Activating the ported number
. Provisioning the routing information
. Informing all the service providers of the ported number
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9.3 CALL ROUTING COSTS
Routing the call to a ported number is one of the major issues in
NP. In case of ACQ, the originating network needs to make a query
to the NP database irrespective of whether the called number is
ported or not. Even the other schemes of NP implementation has
their own impacts on the network signaling, database queries, and
other network resources, which directly influence the network
traffic adding on to the cost.
10. SOLUTION
Many countries have their own guidelines on how to share the
costs incurred in NP implementation. Regulatory bodies can
consider the following points in arriving at a better model for cost
sharing to implement number portability.
. Number of subscribers per service provider should be the base
at the time of setting up the NP System
. The service providers can incur the annual maintenance costs
for using the service of the central NPDB. This can be for the
services used such as NPDB system and customer help desk
usage. These costs should be based on the usage of the
central NPDB or based on the quality of service such as the
bandwidth for accessing the central NPDB
. Recipient service provider can pay for the costs incurred by the
centralized NPDB for any subscriber that ports to its network
. Recipient service provider can pay for the costs incurred by the
donor for each ported number
. The central NPDB should be a non-profitable or at most a
reasonable profit making organization and there should be a
policy to share the profits with the service providers to lower their
burden.
. Service providers can be made stakeholders in the central
NPDB, though the regulatory body shall have the sole
discretionary powers to control the NPDB.
11. CONCLUSION
To implement number portability, the best solution is to imple-
ment the centralized system, maintain a common number porting
database, and use the All Call Query (ACQ) call routing scheme to
route the calls to a ported number. A trusted 3rd party, which
typically reports to the telecom regulatory authority, can maintain
the centralized number porting database.
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