Dialog Axiata PLC has welcomed the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka’s (TRCSL) decision to implement number portability in Sri Lanka, the company said in a statement.

“We are very happy to see the TRCSL moving forward with the next steps in the liberalization of our industry and we congratulate the TRCSL for initiating the process of implementing number portability in Sri Lanka. Dialog is also optimistic that the TRCSL will move forward swiftly with other similar enablers of consumer choice,” Dialog Axiata Group CEO Supun Weerasinghe said.

Number portability allows users to switch of mobile and fixed-lines across competing service providers without changing their numbers, and, as a key facet of a liberalized telecommunications market, is widely practiced internationally.

Dialog Axiata also welcomed the re-initiation of a roadmap by the TRCSL to reach international best practices in maximising customer choice in the telecommunications industry.

“Dialog first proposed in July 2008, the initiation of a roadmap to alleviate consumer choice bottlenecks including number portability. The company believed then and has continued to champion over the years the paradigm that maximising consumer choice would result in the enhancement and development of the industry overall resulting in benefits to all service providers and their customers,” the Dailog Axiata statement said.