Telecoms glossary • L
LNP (Local Number Portability)
The right to keep your number when you change provider. Well established for mobile and geographic numbers, and only settled for 087, 086 and 0800 since March 2022.
What is LNP (local number portability)?in VoIP and business telephony
1. Local number portability is the regulated right to keep an existing telephone number when you move it to a different provider. In South Africa it is governed by ICASA’s Number Portability Regulations, and it covers geographic numbers, mobile numbers and the 080, 086 and 087 non-geographic ranges. The number moves; the service behind it changes.
2. Porting is not arranged between the two providers directly. The Number Portability Company runs the central reference database every licensed operator queries, which is how a ported number still routes correctly no matter which network the caller is on.
What can be ported, and what still cannot
Regulation 4 of the Number Portability Regulations, 2018 is short and specific. Portability applies to geographic numbers, to mobile numbers, and to non-geographic numbers in the 080, 086 and 087 national destination codes. Anything outside those ranges is not covered.
- Geographic numbers
- The 011, 012, 021, 031 style numbers. Portable since 26 April 2010, and the everyday case for a business moving to Cloud PBX. One catch: a geographic number outside its own geographic boundary is a listed ground for rejecting the port, so the number stays tied to its area code region.
- Mobile numbers
- Portable since 10 November 2006, the oldest and smoothest part of the system. Mobile porting uses a one-time PIN sent to the subscriber, valid for four hours.
- 080, 086 and 087
- Toll-free, shared-cost and VoIP ranges. Legally portable only from 7 March 2022, when ICASA finally brought the 2018 regulations into force. Before that date an 087 number effectively locked you to the provider that issued it.
- Everything else
- Ranges outside those three groups are not in scope. If a provider has issued you a number from a range it does not appear in, ask which NDC it sits in before you build a campaign around it.
How long a port actually takes
The regulations govern the validation, not the calendar. Once a donor operator receives a port request the validation process may not exceed seven hours, individual responses are due within an hour, and a rejection must be explained within nine. Ports are only processed during defined hours: Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00 and Saturday 09:00 to 13:00, excluding public holidays.
What a buyer experiences is longer, because the paperwork sits in front of the clock. ISPA’s guidance for the non-geographic ranges puts a standard port at up to three working days and a block port of 100, 1,000 or 10,000 consecutive numbers at up to ten working days. Mobile and geographic ports typically complete in 12 to 48 hours.
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Sign a porting mandate
Your new provider issues it. It has to be signed by someone authorised on the account, not simply by whoever asked for the quote.
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Supply the supporting documents
Your most recent account showing every number to be ported, proof of payment, the ID of the signatory and a company authorisation letter. Details that do not match the donor’s records exactly are the most common cause of delay.
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The recipient lodges with the NPC
You have no direct contact with your old provider during this stage. Everything runs through the Number Portability Company, which is also why chasing your outgoing account manager achieves nothing.
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Pick a port date
Once the NPC confirms, you choose the date. Take a quiet one.
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Cut-over
The transfer happens in the evening of the port date and routing is live by 08:00 the next morning. Network changes themselves are made at a low-traffic time and must complete within an hour.
Why 087 numbers were stuck for sixteen years
It is worth knowing how uneven this history is, because it explains why provider claims about porting vary so much. Mobile portability launched in 2006 and geographic portability in 2010, both run through the Number Portability Company, which the five largest network operators jointly own. Non-geographic portability was written into the 2018 regulations and then sat unimplemented for three and a half years, through public hearings and a court challenge, before ICASA declared it in force on 7 March 2022.
Even now the framework is not finished. The Ordering System Specification, the document that prescribes the actual porting process for all three categories, was published for comment in February 2019 and is still listed by ICASA as a regulation underway. The right exists and works; the rulebook around it is incomplete.
For a buyer the practical consequence is narrow but real. Geographic and mobile ports are routine and providers will quote confidently on them. Non-geographic ports involve more steps and more variation, so get the timeline in writing rather than assuming it matches the 087 number sitting on your website.
What actually gets a port rejected
An account in arrears or suspended is a valid ground for refusing a port, so settle the bill before you lodge. An early-termination penalty is not a valid ground: the regulations state a donor may not reject a post-paid port because of contract cancellation penalties. Providers still cite the penalty as a blocker, and they are wrong to.
The other listed grounds are mostly clerical: missing or incorrect information, a mismatch between the account details and the porting form, a number already in a port, or a number that ported within the last calendar month. Your outgoing provider may not charge you for the port at all. Your incoming provider may, but only if it told you beforehand. Never cancel the old service until the port is confirmed, because cancelling releases the number and there is then nothing left to move. Our number porting guide covers the paperwork in more detail.
About this entry
Definitions are written for South African business buyers and checked against primary sources – provider documentation, standards bodies and ICASA – not vendor marketing. Reviews are independent and sponsors are always disclosed. Read our editorial policy and scoring methodology.
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