Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange and O2 are being sued by operator 3 for up to #250 m over alleged collusion to withhold details needed for potential 3 customers to move their phone numbers from existing providers. The 4 operators are also accused of abusing their dominant market position. Since 1997 customers have been allowed to keep their mobile phone number if they switch operator, but the process takes 5 days and near-instant switching will not be introduced until 2009.
OFCOM is planning to force mobile operators to reduce the time it takes someone to switch their mobile phone number to a new service provider. They say that from April 2008, mobile operators should cut the time to two days, and from September 2009, to two hours.
Labels: Switching mobile providers ofcom
# posted by michael @ 09:13