Torni Dors · May Batas Pala Diyan? · Ep. 04
Mobile Number Portability
Republic Act No. 11202 · Approved February 8, 2019 · Enforced by the NTC
THE LAW IN ONE LINE. Your mobile number is yours, not the network’s. You may keep it when you move to another provider, or when you shift between prepaid and postpaid — completely free of charge, within 48 hours, and they must unlock your handset for free as well. The single condition is that you owe the old network nothing.
You have had the same number since senior year. It sits on your bank records, your government IDs, and every OTP you have ever waited for. Changing it would be a small administrative catastrophe — so you stay on a network you have complained about for years.
Since 2019 you have not had to.
What porting actually means
Option one
Change networks
Move from one mobile service provider to another and keep the same number. The one everybody knows about.
Option two
Change subscription type
Postpaid to prepaid, or prepaid to postpaid. The Act gives this its own 24-hour deadline — and most people have no idea it is covered.
The statutory definition covers a mobile postpaid or prepaid subscriber, who has no existing financial obligation to the donor provider, and who wishes to retain an existing mobile number despite having moved from one provider to another — or to change the type of subscription.
The three words on every telco form
Sec. 4
Donor provider
The network the number belongs to at the moment you file your porting application.
Sec. 4
Recipient provider
The network that will serve you once the transfer is done.
Sec. 4
Cutover period
The stretch during which you have no service while the port completes. Capped at four hours.
It is free — and so is unlocking your phone
SECTION 6. Providers must give nationwide portability to all qualified subscribers completely free of charge. The same section requires them to unlock the subscriber’s handset, upon demand and completely free of charge.
The handset provision is the sleeper. A locked phone is the other half of what keeps people tied to a network, and the law treats it exactly as it treats the number.
There is a further consumer-facing consequence in Section 9: after the Act took effect, mobile service providers may no longer charge one another interconnection fees for domestic calls and SMS made by a subscriber — the charge that had long been passed down into the price of texting someone on a different network.
The deadlines the law imposes
| Limit |
What it covers |
| 48 hours |
The entire porting process. In no case may it take longer. |
| 24 hours |
To change the type of subscription — postpaid to prepaid, or the reverse. |
| 24 hours |
For the donor provider to clear the number where nothing is owed; and, separately, for the recipient provider to activate the number once notified of that clearance. |
| 4 hours |
Maximum cutover — the only window in which you should be without service. |
| 60 days |
The wait before you may port again after a completed port. |
And the Act says in terms that the benefits of portability may not be delayed, withheld, refused, or otherwise not delivered within those periods, once a subscriber has decided to avail of it.
The one real condition: settle your balance
Portability belongs to a subscriber who has no existing financial obligation to the donor provider. Note where that sits — inside the definition itself, not in some collections annex further down the statute.
But they cannot refuse in silence. Where there is an outstanding balance, the donor provider must notify the subscriber and the recipient provider, and must allow the subscriber three (3) working days to settle. Pay within that window and the port proceeds.
What the old network may not do
Section 8 is written directly against the retention playbook. The donor provider may not:
Deterrents. Impose conditions or procedures for contract termination that have the effect of a disincentive or deterrent to porting.
Persuasion. Use the information that you have applied to port in order to persuade you to cancel the application.
Delay. Use that same information to delay the transfer.
It must also keep serving you until the switch is complete, subject only to the cutover period.
What it costs them to stall
| Conduct |
Fine |
| Delayed delivery of the benefit |
₱10,000 |
| Unjust refusal, after mediation |
Minimum ₱40,000 |
| Second to fourth instance of unjust refusal |
₱100,000 to ₱300,000 |
| Fifth instance onward |
₱400,000 to ₱1,000,000, and the NTC may move to revoke the franchise |
| Damages to the subscriber |
Up to ₱40,000 |
These are administrative fines imposed by the NTC. The same exposure attaches to virtual network operators — with the host provider solidarily liable for their failures.
Five things people get wrong
“It is only for postpaid.” The definition covers postpaid and prepaid subscribers, in those words.
“There is a porting fee.” The Act says completely free of charge. Not discounted, not waived as a promo.
“My phone is locked, so I cannot switch.” Unlocking is required on demand, and free.
“They can just refuse because I owe them.” They must notify you and give you three working days to settle first.
“I can switch back next week if I hate it.” Sixty days must lapse from the completion of the last port.
“… the ability of a mobile postpaid or prepaid subscriber, who has no existing financial obligation to the donor provider, to retain an existing mobile number despite having moved from one mobile service provider to another, or to change the type of subscription.”
Republic Act No. 11202, Sec. 4 — the definition of mobile number portability
Source. Republic Act No. 11202, the “Mobile Number Portability Act,” approved 8 February 2019, Secs. 1 to 14. Implementing rules are issued by the National Telecommunications Commission in coordination with the DICT, the National Privacy Commission and the Philippine Competition Commission.
Disclaimer. This post is for general information and educational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. For a particular complaint, consult a lawyer and check the current NTC rules.
Watch the short version on Torni Dors — “May Batas Pala Diyan?” Episode 04.
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