Operators providing the fixed telephone service available to the public, the mobile telephone service, the full virtual mobile operator service and the virtual mobile operator service, must ensure that subscribers with numbers in the national telephone numbering plan can keep, upon request, the numbers that have been assigned to them, regardless of the operator that provides the service, and in accordance with the instances specified in Royal Decree 2296/2004, of 10 December,por el que se aprueba el Reglamento sobre mercados de comunicaciones electrónicas, acceso a las redes y numeración (Reglamento MAN) y su normativa de desarrollo. They must also defray the costs of updating the network components and systems necessary for the portability process.
In this regard, in accordance with section Five of Circular 1/2008, of 19 June, on preserving numbers and migrating telephone numbers, operators that must use the Reference Entity (centralised system that acts as an intermediary to facilitate portability and that is operated by the Asociación de Operadores para la Portabilidad (AOP) for fixed portability, and the Asociación de Operadores para la Portabilidad Móvil (AOPM) for mobile portability), so as to manage the portability processes as per the requirements contained in said instruction, have the obligation to share the costs for setting up said Entity and for its correct operation and administrative management.
For more information on both associations, please visit their respective web pages: AOP, AOPM.