Phone users came a step closer to being able to keep their existing numbers if they choose to transfer to a different network after an industry working group agreed on a proposal.

The Ministry of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce, Terry Lister, said yesterday that the industry working group for the implementation of Local Number Portability (LNP) - a wireless consumer's ability to change service providers within the same area and retain the same phone number - had agreed on a plan to implement the service in Bermuda using an off switch solution with a central reference database.

Mr. Lister said: "The lack of Number Portability in Bermuda has been a complaint of the consumers especially from businesses for some time now. Competitive carriers also had a concern about the anti-competitive nature of preserving the lack of portability.

"I am pleased that the working group has been able to make a recommendation by the March 6, 2009 deadline."

A follow-up consultation focusing on consumer issues, the porting process, routing of calls to ported numbers, cost recovery, authorisation and validation is set to be held before the timescale for final implementation is agreed.