The Agency regulates number portability. The Agency sets out, in greater detail, the terms and conditions and manner of number porting, along with the amount of number porting fee, it manages the number porting information system and maintains the ported number database. This area is regulated by the provisions of the rulebooks on number portability on fixed and mobile networks:

Rulebook on number portability on public telephone networks at a fixed location (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 52/11)

and

Rulebook on number portability for services provided on public mobile communication networks (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 101/14).

Notification on the voice message when dialling a number that has been ported from one mobile telecommunications network to another

The users are notified that if during the call set-up they hear the following message: “The number has been ported to operator X”, they should not cut the connection because the call set-up will continue after the message.

Since the number portability has been introduces it is no longer possible to determine the network of the particular number based on the prefix (060, 063, 064,..). 

Mobile operators, in the plans offered to their users, often apply lower tariffs to calls within the same network compared to the calls made to other networks.

The user making a call to a number that used to be in the same network, before being ported, may be charged more that they would be charged if it hadn’t been ported, i.e. more that they expect.

Therefore, in order to protect the consumers, the user who makes a call to a number that has been ported receives the following message: “The number has been ported to operator X”, before call set-up.

The calling party may disable the notification if they no longer wish to receive the voice messages on ported numbers.

The calling party who has disabled the message will not be able to determine how much the call will cost only based on the prefix and, therefore, they may be charged for the call more than expected. 

The user who has ported the number needs to know that anyone who calls them and who hasn’t deactivated the voice message will receive the notification that the number has been ported and it may happen that a person who calls them, confused by the message, cuts the connection before call set-up.

The process of number porting from one network to another

Since 1 July 2011, when number portability service on mobile networks had become available to mobile users in the Republic of Serbia, several thousands of number porting requests have been made and by 1 August more than 3849 numbers have been ported from one mobile operator’s network to another mobile operator’s network. The successful cooperation from the preparatory period continued with all three operators and the central base of ported numbers maintained by the Agency operates smoothly.

Considering the great interest for number portability on mobile networks expressed by both users and the media, the Agency wishes to explain the procedure that the process of number porting involves.

In addition to the subscriber (user), the number porting procedures also involves the recipient operator and the donor operator.

The number porting procedures is initiated by submitting a number porting request to the recipient operator, which forwards the request to the central base.

Upon receiving the request data, the central base replies to the recipient operator with a confirmation on the initiated number porting procedure and forwards the subscriber’s (user’s) number porting request to the donor operator.

Upon receiving the request, the donor operator verifies whether the requirements for number porting are met and notifies the recipient operator and the central base on this.

The requirement verification and notification procedure may not take longer than two working days from the day the donor operator receives the number porting request.

The donor operator may reject the request if:

- the number porting request is inaccurate or incomplete; 
- the request was made by unregistered prepaid subscriber (user);
- outstanding debts have not been acquitted by the subscriber.

In  case  all  necessary  conditions  for  the  number  porting  procedure  are  met,  the  donor operator  notifies  the  receiving  operator  as  well  as  the  central  database  on  the accepted  number  porting  request. Upon accepting the request, the  donor operator  is required to complete number porting within two working days.

From the moment the number porting request is made to the moment the number porting from one network to another is completed 4 days may pass (2 working days for requirement verification procedure and 2 working days for number porting).

The number of number porting request may differ from the number of ported numbers since one request may involve a series of numbers (e.g. pf a legal entity). Also, requests may be rejected for reasons set out in the Rulebook on number portability on public mobile telecommunications networks. Furthermore, more than one request can be made for the same number which cannot be ported because the obstacles to porting have not been removed.

In order order to protect the consumers, the user who makes a call to a number that has been ported receives the following message: “The number has been ported to operator X”.

For the purpose of making available the information on numbers that have been ported to another network, RATEL developed a special application at http://www.prenesibroj.rs/. Detailed guidelines on number portability for users are also available on this web page.