Section 4Sec./Art. 4

Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act:

(a) Cutover Period refers to the date and time when a subscriber who submitted a porting application will have no mobile telecommunications service while the porting process is being completed;

(b) Donor Provider refers to the mobile service provider to whose network the mobile number belongs at the time the subscriber submits a porting application;

(c) Mobile Number refers to the number series assigned by a mobile service provider to its subscribers;

(d) Mobile Number Portability or MNP refers to the ability of a mobile postpaid or prepaid subscriber, who has no existing financial obligation to the donor provider, to retain an existing mobile number despite having moved from one (1) mobile service provider to another, or to change the type of subscription from postpaid to prepaid or vice versa;

(e) Mobile Postpaid Subscriber refers to any person, natural or juridical, who avails of the mobile telecommunications service under a prior arrangement with a mobile service provider. The subscriber is billed after the fact, according to the use of mobile telecommunications services at the end of the monthly billing cycle;

(f) Mobile Prepaid Subscriber refers to any person, natural or juridical, who avails of the mobile telecommunications service from a mobile service provider by purchasing credit in advance of service use. The purchased credit is used to pay for mobile telecommunications services at the point the service is accessed or consumed;

(g) Mobile Service Provider refers to a public telecommunications entity or a virtual network operator, or any entity that provides mobile telecommunications service to subscribers;

(h) Porting Application refers to an application submitted by a subscriber to a mobile service provider to avail of MNP;

(i) Porting Process refers to the process by which a donor provider moves a mobile number to a recipient provider or changes the type of subscription from postpaid to prepaid or vice versa. In no case shall the entire porting process take more than forty-eight (48) hours;

(j) Public Telecommunications Entity or PTE refers to any duly authorized public telecommunications entity that offers voice, short messaging system (SMS or text), mobile data, value-added services (VAS), or any other mobile telecommunications services to the public for a fee;

(k) Recipient Provider refers to the mobile service provider that shall provide mobile telecommunications service to the subscriber after the porting process;

(l) Subscriber refers to any person, natural or juridical, who avails of mobile telecommunications service from a mobile service provider; and

(m) Virtual Network Operator or VNO refers to an entity that offers telecommunications service to the public under its own brand, but utilizes the network of another authorized PTE.