Telecommunications Management Act Article 16

For the purpose of protecting subscribers’ rights and interests and facilitating market competition, telecommunications enterprises that use subscriber numbers to provide telecommunications services shall provide number portability and equal access services.Where the telecommunications enterprise as described in the preceding paragraph fails to provide number portability or equal access services, it shall submit relevant documents to the competent authority for the approval of exemption.The number portability service as described in Paragraph 1 refers to the service that enables the subscriber to retain his or her subscriber number when switching from another telecommunications enterprise to the telecommunications enterprise. The equal access service, on the other hand, refers to the service that allows a subscriber to choose the long-distance and international network services provided by other telecommunications enterprises.Telecommunications enterprises that provide number portability services shall co-establish or join a centralized database management organization to jointly supervise the establishment, maintenance, operation and management of a centralized database.Rules governing the scope, provision and implementation schedule of number portability and equal access services as described in Paragraph 1 and the preceding paragraph, the establishment, management and restrictions of centralized database management organization, and other related matters shall be promulgated by the competent authority.