Telecommunications: operator number portability and carrier pre-selection

OBJECTIVE: the present proposal for a directive seeks to strengthen those measures in respect of Community legislation on telecommunications which currently relate to equal quantitative and qualitative access to numbering resources for all market players. CONTENT: the Commission proposes a limited and specific amendment of the 'interconnection' directive (Directive 97/33/EC). The proposed changes comprise: - requesting national regulatory authorities to encourage the early introduction of operator number portability and to ensure that this service is available throughout the entire territory of the Member State by 1 January 2000 at the latest; - compelling national regulatory authorities to require organisations operating public telecommunications networks and having significant market power to provide a carrier preselection service, and to ensure that this is available by 1 January 2000 at the latest. The proposed mechanism will enable the subscriber to choose the service provider by default, for example for international or long-distance calls, while at the same time giving him the opportunity to cancel this choice by dialling a short prefix when making the call. It should be noted that the present proposal has been requested by the European Parliament and the Council. It reflects the results of a wide public consultation on numbering, which was organised following publication of the Green Paper on telephone numbering. �