France boosts porting capacity to meet Free demand

French regulator Arcep announced an agreement with operators to boost number porting capacity in order to meet the strong demand for services from the new mobile operator, Free Mobile. Arcep said that number portings have increased from an average 12,000 per day in 2011 to 40,000 a day since Free launched at the start of this year. This is the maximum capacity of the porting system. As a result, the regulator, operators and porting group EGP have agreed to gradually double the capacity to 80,000 numbers a day. Arcep also asked the operators to expand their own information systems to meet the demand from customers and underlined the need to provide customers with "clear and transparent" information on the porting process. In addition, operators must ensure that new customers receive their Sims before the actual porting date, to maintain continuous service, the regulator said. 

According to a report in Le Monde, some new Free subscribers have been waiting weeks to receive their Sims. However Free CEO Maxime Lombardini said the company has no problems with logistics, but has been holding off sending some cards due to delays in number porting. Free founder Xavier Niel said on Twitter that the government needs to "do its job" and make sure all players are respecting the law. In response, industry minister Eric Besson posted links to letters sent to the three incumbent operators SFR, Orange and Bouygues Telecom, calling for them to respect the maximum porting time of three days. Nicolas Huery, head of the porting group, said part of the problem was that Free had not provided in advance details on expected volumes. He said the porting platform reached maximum capacity shortly after Free's launch and last weekend was already at around 50,000 numbers a day. By next weekend, he expects this to reach 80,000.