Chapter 1 - Current Number Management Arrangements
Legislation in Relation to Numbering
The Lao PDR has recent Telecommunications Legislation(2011)that establishes responsibilities for the MPT management of national resources that include numbers. The basis for number planning and management in the Lao PDRisestablished by Articles 12 and 13 of the Telecommunications Law. The National Telephone Number Plan for the Lao PDRof 2003 is the most recent number plan. This plan was predicated on fixed line services being the majority service in the Lao PDR, however developments in mobile networks since that time warrant a revisit of the National Number Plan. The MPT is presently preparing a regulation on the use of numbers in the Lao PDR, accordingly this project is of fortuitous timing and may be of particular assistance to the Lao PDR.
The most recent adjustment to the number plan was advised to the ITU in January 2011 to establish eight digits numbering for mobile services. Non wire line based services (mobile /wireless local loop etc.) are nowanticipated to be a larger componentof telecommunications than wire line over the life of the Plan (hence the establishment of an eight digit mobile services component of the National Number Plan) but the reference point was the number of wire line based fixed services at the time (about 60,000 in 2014). The take upof mobile telephony has been greater than could have been anticipated and has become,by a very wide margin, the major consumer of available telephone numbers. Supplementing the wire line based fixed services; operators of mobile networks have been offering wireless based fixed services. These are accommodated in the numbering plan as seven digit numbers with prefix / area code ‘(0)30’. The ITU has not yet been advised of the introduction of this service or the relevant number ranges.
Competition in supply of telecommunications services is established in the Lao PDR. Competitive supply of services has had the major effect of extending availability of services to the majority of Lao PDR citizens at affordable prices. This benefit clearly outweighs the costs associated with the need to adjust the number plan.
The structure of the 2003 plan (as amended in 2011 and incorporating the WLL services structures) is shown diagrammatically at Appendix 1a. The Image indicates several issues with the current plan that will require a review of arrangements and number planning for the future. These issues and suggested actions are in this report.