TIRANA, Nov. 9 – More than half a million mobile phone subscribers have ported their numbers since 2011 when Albania offered the number portability service, allowing subscribers to port their numbers to any of the four mobile companies operating in Albania within three days and free of charge, according to AKEP, Albania’s electronic communications authority.
“Some 550,817 numbers have been ported to mobile operators and 12,083 to fixed-line operators. In the first ten months of 2016, there were 115,000 mobile numbers ported while changes in the portability regulation have increased the maximum number of numbers that can be ported in a single day from 600 to 1,200,” says the watchdog.
The mobile portability service was launched in May 2011 while fixed-line operators have been able to port numbers since April 2013.
Albania had some 3.38 million active mobile phone users at the end of the first half of 2016 with a penetration rate of 119 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of fixed-line subscribers remained almost unchanged at 225,000.
Some four mobile operators operate in Albania while the fixed-line telephony is dominated by Turkish-run Albtelecom.
