(Eagle News)—President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a measure that would allow cellphone holders to keep their numbers even if they change service providers.
Under the reconciled Senate and House versions of the Lifetime Cellphone Number Act approved by the bicameral conference committee in November last year, mobile subscribers are not required to pay a fee when they decide to retain their existing mobile number even when they change the type of subscription from postpaid to prepaid or vice versa or when they change from one service provider to another.
Under that version, the process of porting a number from one service provider to another should take no more than 48 hours, while the change in the type of subscription from postpaid to prepaid and vice versa should not take more than 24 hours.
Under that approved version, interconnection fees charged to subscribers for calling or texting across different networks are also removed.
