Portability / FR

Learn about mobile number portability in France and its dedicated APIs

This feature does not concern IoT customers.

Introduction

An end user may want to change network operator keeping their MSISDN. This process is called a mobile number portability (MNP).

An MNP process involves different actors:

• The end user is the subscriber which requests a portability from an operator to another.
• The donor operator is the operator that the subscriber is leaving and which hosts the MSISDN at the beginning of the process.
• The recipient is the operator towards which the subscriber is going to and which initiates the MNP process in order to let the subscriber keep their MSISDN on the recipient operator network.
• The Entité de Gestion de la Portabilité (EGP) is the French central system managing relationships between the operators during MNP processes.

MNP process

A mobile number portability request is split in three steps:

1. A subscriber requests their Relevé d'Identité Opérateur (RIO) from their current operator and use it to request a mobile number portability.
2. The recipient operator submits the request to the EGP for validation: this is eligibility. The donor operator may accept or reject the request depending on the status of the MSISDN on its network. During this validation step and until the GO Portability (GOP) is received, it is still possible for the recipient operator to cancel the request. One day before date planned, the EGP sends the GOP notification to all actors: the request is now frozen and modifications are prohibited.
3. The mobile number portability is executed. The ported MSISDN is terminated on the donor operator side and is now used on the recipient operator side. All routing tables are updated for all French network operators.

As recipient operator

Overview

You have two ways to request a mobile number portability:

• At the same time as the subscriber activation.
• On an already active subscriber.

Mobile number portability on already active subscriber is not supported on MVNO France light architecture.

In this process, you are the recipient operator and your subscriber must provide as input their MSISDN and their associated RIO which are communicated by their donor operator.

Mobile number portability process as a recipient operator

Lifecycle and statuses

Lifecycle as a recipient operator

As donor operator

Overview

When your subscriber wants to switch to another operator keeping the same MSISDN, he needs a RIO to authorize the termination of his current contract. This RIO is generated at subscriber creation and never changes. This information must be shared with your subscriber upon request in order for him to provide it to their new operator (recipient operator). In this scenario, you are the donor operator.

Then, the recipient operator initiates the mobile number portability process. During the eligibility step, there is absolutely no action required from you. Based on the subscriber status and association between RIO and MSISDN, Transatel is able to accept or reject the request. Yet, if the request is valid, the day before the portability, the request is frozen and cannot be canceled by the donor operator anymore. Finally, at time requested by the recipient operator, Transatel will execute the portability and terminate the subscriber.

Mobile number portability process as a donor operator

Lifecycle and statuses

Portability OUT lifecycle

Portability management

Activate a subscriber and port MSISDN

This operation starts a mobile number portability process, initializes network services and enables the SIM card to attach to the network and make calls. As soon as the request is validated by the donor operator, you receive an eligibility OK event.

But the donor operator can reject your request (only for technical impossibility). In this case, you receive an eligibility KO event. Please note that until the GO Portability is received, the donor operator can reject it, even if it has validated it before (for example, if the end user terminates their contract with the donor operator before the execution of the portability). Eligibility KO is the final event you will receive. Please note that the subscriber status remains unchanged with value Available. If you want to fix your request, you must create a new one.

Finally, when the portability request has been successfully processed, the subscriber is created and becomes billable. You receive the portability done event.

Port MSISDN on an already active subscriber

This operation starts a mobile number portability process. As soon as the request is validated by the donor operator, you receive an eligibility OK event.

But the donor operator can reject your request (only for technical impossibility). In this case, you receive an eligibility KO event. Please note that until the GO Portability is received, the donor operator can reject it, even if it has validated it before (for example, if the end user terminates their contract with the donor operator before the execution of the portability). Eligibility KO is the final event you will receive. If you want to fix your request, you must create a new one.

Finally, when the portability request has been successfully processed, you receive the portability done event.

Cancel a portability request

This operation cancels a current portability request. The cancellation is possible before the GO Portability is received. Please pay attention, although this is a synchronous operation, a canceled portability event is generated.

Retrieve portability information /

Using this operation, you can retrieve information about a mobile number portability process: status of the request, MSISDN, RIO, portability date and the donor/receiver operators.

Retrieve a subscriber RIO

You can use this operation to get the RIO.