Mobile Number Portability has become a reality in Algeria. The executive decree defining the conditions and steps necessary for the implementation of the service presented to the government on Wednesday, April 14 at a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, has been approved. The announcement was made by the Minister of Post, Telecommunications, Technology, and Digital, Brahim Boumzar, on April 15.

"The main contribution of number portability, which is to preserve numbering resources, will stimulate competition between operators by facilitating consumer choice between their various services, which consumers will no longer be required to change the numbering to access the offers presented by different operators on the market," said the government.

Mobile Number Portability was initiated in the country in 2018. In January 2020, Brahim Boumzar announced the finalization in the progress of the draft decree relating to it. A national commission in charge of concretizing the law on number portability had then seen the light of day in June.

In practice, through the portability of mobile numbers, the government has given the power of sanction to telecom subscribers. There is no more need to acquire a new mobile number, and no more tedious tasks to communicate it to all its directory. Any telecom operator that cannot convince consumers of the quality of its services will be condemned to lose them to its competitors, who will also see their revenues grow at the same time.

Muriel Edjo