The UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has reported that 61,000 mobile number porting requests were received by du and Etisalat since the official launch of the mobile number portability (MNP) service in December last year.

"The launch of the mobile number portability service falls in line with the wider TRA strategy aimed at promoting strong competition between the country's two mobile services providers," said H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, director-general, TRA.

"This move will enhance the quality of services offered to consumers and in turn, drive levels of performance upwards.

"The significant number of porting requests received reflects the real interest of UAE consumers in the MNP service. The TRA is responsible for monitoring the service mechanisms, ensuring all the necessary documents and information is submitted to complete the transition and ultimately, ensuring the switchover process runs as smoothly as possible."

To date, more than 23,000 mobile numbers were ported out of the total requests, while many requests were resubmitted in order to obtain the required documents for the switchover.

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