The countdown has begun with Mobile Number Portability (MNP) round the corner, and du is ready. Beginning 30 December 2013, MNP will be available in the UAE which means that you can keep your old number and yet switch to another telecom operator – without any additional charges. It’s a perfect time to understand what this means for you as a customer and answer some of the other questions which you may have.
To ensure a seamless experience for customers who wish to switch to du, du has intensively trained 2500 personnel for more than 12800 hours over 1973 business manned days across its customer care and retail sales departments (including authorised partners) to be fully aware of the processes and guide customers.
Fahad AlHassawi, Chief Commercial Officer, du, said, “MNP is now closer than ever to be a reality. The time to embrace change is here. We are ready and have made a lot of preparations to roll out a user friendly, convenient and hassle free process for customers to switch to du. As mandated by the TRA we can process up to 3000 applications every day. We have trained 2500 personnel to ensure a smooth customer experience at retail sales and customer care level. We are looking forward to welcoming new users to the du family.”
Mobile Number Portability means that you as a prepaid or post-paid customer can retain your full mobile number including the prefix while changing your telecom operator. As an example, this means that a customer with either 050 or 056 prefix can move to du while keeping all 10 digits.
The process and time involved:
The process of switching to du without changing your existing mobile number is very simple. To indicate your interest in switching to du and be notified as soon as MNP is available, individual customers can simply send the word ‘CHANGE’ by SMS to 3553.
Business customer can send an SMS “Change Bus” to 3553.
Any customer may call up toll-free on 800 242643 (800CHANGE) manned by trained staff who will be able to answer all their queries. Either of the customers may alternatively visit www.du.ae/change. There is no need to visit the other telecom operator.
From 30 December, if you are an individual customer, simply visit any of the 51 du Shops or select authorised partner outlets of Axiom, E-Max, Eros Digital Home, Jacky’s and Jumbo. There is one near you. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) customers can submit their porting application at any of the 19 du Shops offering business services.
Large enterprise customers can contact their dedicated du account manager or submit their application on www.du/ae/change, and they will receive a call back within 24 hours. Once you submit the specialporting request form along with the required documentation, you will be notified about the progress through SMS.
Individual customers ID requirements:
- UAE nationals: Valid UAE national id or valid UAE passport
- GCC nationals: Valid UAE or GCC national ID or valid GCC passport
- Expats: Valid UAE national ID or valid foreign passport plus valid UAE visa or residence
Enterprise customers ID requirements
- Copy of current trade license
- Valid Establishment card
- Power of Attorney/letter of authorisation (if you are not the owner of the company)
- Valid ID (in accordance with above)
The porting time (time taken to switch to another operator) will take less than one working day. A working day is defined as Sunday to Thursday, 8am – 8 pm. However, you can request to port-in outside working hours, but in that case, the application will be part of a queue for 8am on the next working day. For example, if a customer submits his request to port on Thursday 9 pm, the request will be queued up and attended to at 8 am on Sunday. Note that each operator is allowed to port-in a maximum of 3.000 numbers per working day
You will be happy to know that there is no additional charge to move to du. Individual customers only need to pay the standard activation fee for their prepaid or post-paid plan.
Important note:
Please note that if you are a prepaid customer, your unused credit balance cannot be carried forward. You will need to use up the existing credit before submitting the request.
Possible scenarios of rejection:
There are 10 possible scenarios under which a porting application may get rejected or delayed. These are as follows:
Inactive number:
1. Number not allocated to the old operator
2. Number not assigned to any subscriber
3. Inactive number
Documentation issues:
4. Invalid identification
5. Identification mismatch
6. Incomplete porting request
Number suspended:
7. Number is reported as lost or stolen
8. Number is under suspension
Other reasons for rejection:
9. Porting back to the previous network after 3 working days from a successful port-out, but before the 30th calendar day is not allowed
10. Porting of a secondary number only (on a SIM card, e.g. fax or data-number) is not allowed
