Press Releases

Budapest, January 21, 2004 15:00

On January 21, 2004 in Szeged Matáv signed the first agreement with an Invitel subscriber under which the subscriber will use Matáv services while keeping their old telephone number. In fact, it was a major Invitel customer in the region that left them to opt for Matáv's more favorable services.

Number portability became available in Hungary on January 1, 2004. This means in practice that if a subscriber chooses to change telephone service providers, he can keep his old telephone number, and his friends, relatives and business partners can reach him on the old familiar telephone number. This gives fixed-line telephone subscribers the opportunity to choose the telephone service provider that offers the best conditions, and still keep their telephone number. It was this new possibility that enabled the conclusion of the first number portability agreement between Matáv and Dél-magyarországi MÉH in Szeged.

Under the regulations, a customer wishing to change service providers has to state his request at the new service provider. Then the service providers implement the transfer between them, and exchange data with the central database operated by the authority. The service providers have 15 working days to carry out the transfer of the subscriber, provided that the receiving carrier has established the last mile to the subscriber.

Matáv began preparations for the introduction of number portability in early 2003, in yet another contribution to the expansion of competition in the fixed-line market. The amount invested in the implementation of the service reached 1.5 billion HUF last year. Matáv is also making efforts to promote geographic number portability which means that if a subscriber does not wish to change telecom providers but moves within the same exchange area, he can keep his old telephone number.