Telenor and SBB against postponement of local number portability

Telenor Serbia said in a release Tuesday that it was against the postponement of the launch of local number portability as that was in breach of regulations and would extend the period of the national operator's monopoly.

- Such decision would contribute to the business environment in Serbia being seen by foreign investors as uncertain and unsafe, and it would also inflict direct damage to the operations of Telenor as one of the fixed telephony operators in Serbia - Telenor Serbia CEO Ove Fredheim told Beta news agency.

According to Beta, RATEL has submitted a proposal to fixed telephony operators in Serbia for the postponement of the launch of local number portability until April 2014.

Application of the regulations on local number portability was supposed to commence 1 December 2012, but it was postponed because Telekom Srbija, which holds the largest share of the Serbian fixed telephony market, was not ready for that.

Fredheim noted that local number portability was a service that would additionally liberalize the fixed telephony market and strengthen competitiveness, which would benefit users most.

SBB (Serbian Cable Networks) assessed today that RATEL and the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications were violating the Constitution, laws and their own rules, adding that there was no market competition in fixed telephony.