This announcement comes following the appointment of Systor Intereurope Systems (Systor) as the chosen solution provider for the implementation and operation of the Number Portability Central System.
“Due to administrative delays, national events, and to provide adequate time for testing the service by licensed operators the launch of number portability has been delayed to July 2011,” TRA’s ICT Director Ahmed Aldoseri, said.
“Systor is an internationally reputed company and we are pleased to be working with them on a project of such significance for the Kingdom of Bahrain,” he added.
“The number portability central system is a key component of the number portability process. TRA intends to implement a system that will enable subscribers to easily and freely port their numbers between Licensed Operators. This is a major milestone for the Kingdom of Bahrain and is expected to greatly stimulate competition in the market.”
The central system is a platform that coordinates the exchange of messages between Licensed Operators in order to smoothly conduct number portability operations for subscribers. The central system also maintains the authoritative database of ported numbers and performance metrics of all Licensed Operators involved in number portability. This is so that TRA may ensure that the rights and responsibilities of all parties affected by number portability are upheld.
Systor has been selected from a group of international firms who submitted high quality proposals for the provision of the central system solution. The selection of Systor was made in accordance with the transparent and objective tendering procedures of TRA, which comprises an evaluation committee and a well-documented evaluation and review process.
The number portability central system is being hosted by the Bahrain Internet Exchange (BIX), which facilitates ease of access by all operators.
“We are glad to be part of the TRA project and to host the Number Portability system. This is viable strategically to most of the operators as they are already availing BIX services and can efficiently interconnect with the TRA system. This is in line with our vision to create a nodal Internet Exchange for providing internet services and peering facility between the licensed operators in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” Mohamed Al-Thawadi, Executive Director of BIX, said.