My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: Five submit Proposals for NPA for MNP and LNP - The 411 on TPPR Applicants as the OUR can only choose one NPA

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Five submit Proposals for NPA for MNP and LNP - The 411 on TPPR Applicants as the OUR can only choose one NPA

Happy New Year 2015 everyone!

The Telecom Sheep are already slowly falling in line for the IXP (Internet Exchange Point) whose deadline was Thursday January 1^st 2015 as explained in my blog article entitled “Jamaica's Local Internet Exchange Point - IXP Lower Routings, Web Hosting and Websites Loading on smartphones as Jamaican Domain Name Registration and MNP, LNP Approaches”.

It’s now 2015, the Chinese Year of the Sheep and with the coming of MNP (Mobile Number Portability) and LNP (Landline Number Portability), the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulations) was already busy doing evaluation of the various Applicants for the post of NPA (Number Portability Administrator).

They have received applications of five (5) entities for the post of NPA (Numbering Portability Administrator) in response to the TPPR (Technical & Price Proposal Requirements Request) as reported in the article “Five apply for portability admin Services”, Published Sunday December 21, 2014, by Avia Collinder, Business Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.

These five (5) Applicants are:

1. Mediafon

2. Porting Access BV

3. Productive Business Solutions

4. Telcordia Technologies (Iconectiv)

5. Teletech DOO

This is the same MNP and LNP that Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell had assured us on Tuesday December 2^nd 2014 would be coming on stream by for Sunday May 31^st 2015 as stated in my blog article entitled “Minister Paulwell affirms MNP, LNP Coming May 31st 2015 - Why NPA TPPR, IXP Deadline and VoIP Registration herald MNP, LNP for NANP Number Ranges and Competition”.

So who are these companies exactly? My article will fill in the blanks.

Five submit Proposals for NPA - The 411 on TPPR Applicants as there can only be one

So straight to it lads! There are four (4) International companies and one (1) Jamaican company who have submitted bids to become a NPA!

Lithuania based Mediafon, established in 1998, specializes in Number Portability Services. They also seem to operate Fixed and Mobile Telecom Services and specialize in finding fraudulent activities going on in other Telecoms Providers.

Porting Access BV, base in the Netherlands, was founded in 2001, also specializes in Number Portability Services. Also referred to as PortingXS, they are also a Telecoms Provider in the Netherlands is their home base, with some 80% of that country using their Services and operations in more than ten (10) Developing World Countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Panama and Haiti.

Jamaican-based Productive Business Solutions was established in 2001 a little after Facey Commodity. That should be a clue as to their owner; the Musson Group. Productive Business Solutions came to be after the acquisition of the Jamaican operations of Xerox. Not sure what their experience in Telecoms or even Number Portability Services is, but they’re widely spread through the Caribbean as far as Belize, which makes them all the more intriguing.

Piscataway, New Jersey-based Telcordia Technologies Inc, also known as Iconectiv, is a subsidiary of Ericsson. Ericsson is known in Jamaica as suppliers of Telecom Equiptment and the Maintenance contractor for Telecom Provider LIME as explained in my blog article entitled “LIME outsources Network Maintenance to Ericsson - The Lone Rangers in Telecoms may have to Tag Team to get a 700Mhz license for 4G LTE”.

A specialist in interconnection solutions, which includes everything from Structured Cableing to Number Portability Services, they are a multinational with subsidiaries as far away as Europe and Asia

Finally, Slovenia-based Teletech DOO, established in 2004, is the firth applicant. They specialize in Number Portability Services for Telecom Regulators and Telecom Providers. They currently specialize in developing hardware and software solutions and provide consultancy Services in the Telecommunications field as well as Internet, Banking and ICT (Information and Computer Technology).

All these companies have a website but some aren't fully hip to the reality of Social Media, particularly a YouTube Page. Still, the bidding process comes down to their technical and price proposals and how fast they can deploy their Services after the winning bid is announced on Monday January 5^th 2014 as laid out in the TPPR (Technical & Price Proposal Requirements Request) document.

I'll do a more detailed article announcing who won the bid when the announcement is made by the OUR (Office of the Utilities Regulation). Here are the details for the Bidders:

Mediafon

Website: http://www.mediafon.lt/en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mediafon-UAB/503084893071795

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mediafon

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiD4cIGprnK7baFfe2sXaXA

Email: info@mediafon.lt

Porting Access BV (PortingXS)

Website: http://www.portingxs.com/

Facebook: N/A

Twitter: https://twitter.com/portingxs

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PortingXS

Email: N/A