Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Phillip Paulwell said all is in place to facilitate number portability in Jamaica on May 31.

Paulwell, was addressing a JIS Think Tank on Tuesday, said all the required infrastructure is in place and there was agreement, by all service providers, to facilitate the platform.

He said licences have been granted and the regulator, the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), is fully up to speed on executing its monitoring role.

Number portability will allow Jamaicans to move from one service provider to another while retaining their telephone number.

"With the new systems that number is yours. It allows the consumer to be in control of the number and gives the consumer power over the provider," Paulwell noted.

He said persons wishing to change their service provider could do so at no charge.

"In fact, the law now prohibits a charge by the donor provider to the customer, apart from those that govern the service prior to the porting (switching from one provider to another)," he explained.

"The incoming provider has the option, but I suspect it might prove foolhardy, on their part, to impart charges on new clients," he argued.

Minister Paulwell pointed out that number portability will lead to greater competition and the lowering of prices to consumers.

Initially, number portability will only be facilitated from mobile to mobile and fixed line to fixed line.

"Eventually, porting will be facilitated across service technologies but we're not there as yet," Paulwell said.

He told JIS News that the porting facility being established will be reserved for operation within the country's borders and by Jamaican service providers.