Taiwan's cellphone numbers to become mobile in 2005

The government is planning to let mobile-phone users keep their numbers when they switch providers from 2005.

"The idea is to personalize cellphone numbers,'' said Kao Kai-sheng (高凱聲), vice-director of the Directorate General of Telecommunications. "That will force service providers to be more competitive in pricing and services."

There are more mobile subscriptions than people in Taiwan -- 25 million for a population of 23 million -- shared between four main providers. Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大) is the biggest operator by subscribers.

Hong Kong already allows mobile number portability, while South Korea will start to introduce it next year. Japan doesn't let subscribers keep their number when they change operator.

After the reform, operators may charge cellphone subscribers a fee to keep their number when they switch, Kao said.

"We don't want to see cutthroat competition that can drive companies out of business," he said.

The legislature passed a revision of the Telecommunications Law (電信法) in June last year that allows the the public to retain fixed-line phone numbers when changing phone carriers.

The new service, dubbed Number Portability (NP), helps consumers make decisions about service providers based on price, service and quality rather than on phone numbers, Kao said.

For the mobile-phone service sector, the government had originally planned to ask companies to provide NP service sometime this year, along with the launching of third-generation services, Kao said at that time.

Additional reporting by Annabel Lue