El Salvador number portability behind schedule

The plan to implement fixed and mobile phone line portability in El Salvador is behind schedule.

Telecom regulator Siget head Blanca Coto told local daily El Mundo that the tender to manage the portability process must take place and be awarded before year-end.

In a schedule Siget submitted to the nation's legislative assembly earlier in the year, the tender was supposed to have been awarded by August.

The plan is for telcos to begin implementing portability by February, said the newspaper, which quoted Tigo country manager Marcelo Alemán as saying the tight schedule will be challenging.

Coto confirmed that the cost of portability will not be borne by the user.