Communications Minister Ariel Atias announced Thursday that the number portability plan, which will allow telephone subscribers to switch among operators and keep their phone numbers, will start no later than December 1, 2007.

The ministry decided to delay the start after Bezeq said it would not be able to meet the ministry's preferred dates of September or October of this year.

The portability plan was meant to start in September 2006, but no communications company met the deadline. If the companies do not meet the deadline again, Atias now has much harsher sanctions at his disposal: fines of up to NIS 12 million.

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Number portability will allow subscribers to take their numbers with them between phone companies within three hours of making the request. The ministry suspects that the lack of portability is one of the main barriers preventing consumers from switching providers.

"It is disappointing that the telephone companies chose to violate an important law," said a Communications Ministry official. "We are convinced that the companies could have met the date set from a technological standpoint, but they chose not to do so for their own reasons."

In 2006 the phone companies petitioned the High Court of Justice, claiming that they were not ready to meet the September 2006 date. The court postponed its hearing from March to June of this year. The ministry had two choices: Wait for the court's decision on the matter, or act to implement the plan in any way possible.

At the ministry they decided to act. Therefore, the ministry decided to open a dialog with all the phone companies in Israel, cellular, landline, and cable; in order to find a realistic date for implementation of the portability plan while still insisting that it must start in 2007.

In addition, the ministry decided to levy a monetary fine in two parts. For the period from September 2006 until November 2007 or until the company meets the portability requirement, whichever comes first a fine of up to NIS 2 million will be set. At the same time, the ministry will fine any firm that does not meet the December 1, 2007 deadline in a manner that could total up to NIS 12 million, based on recent changes to the Communications Law.

The director general of the ministry notified the heads of the phone companies that he is still considering implementing the first set of fines of up to NIS 2 million, and that if they act to benefit the consumer by moving up the date of implementation, they can reduce the fine.

The ministry had tried to determine the date when all the phone companies would be ready, but it turned out that there was no single date possible. The dates varied between August to December of this year. However, to implement the plan with as few problems as possible and to allow all consumers to switch, December 1 was chosen, according to the ministry.