By Bruce Clark, Porting Supervisor
Over the past few months, Offta (and the NPP&CG (Number Port Process & Commercial Group)) have been talking about making a few changes to the current porting processes, with a large focus around Letters of Authorisation (LOAs).
From Monday 3rd August Monday 7th September (pushed back due to Offta’s decision to make a slight change), the current LOA format will no longer be supported, and a new format will have taken its place. The reason behind this is there was no definitive version, allowing Communication Providers to have their own idea of how they should be formatted. As more and more providers tailored their versions of LOAs, this meant data would be in a different place from one version to the next. There were also some versions out there that did not hold all the necessary information required. This change has the added advantage of allowing validation in a more precise way.
The new format has now been tailored to ensure all the relevant information is visible and any information that wasn’t required has been removed. This should make it easier for the End User to complete and also easier for Network Providers to validate the information. You will be able to find a downloadable version of the new LOA here.
This in many ways is very similar to the previous published version, with the main changes related to formatting and keeping the format relevant to both Geographic and Non-Geographic number porting, for all order types.
Additionally, there are now two ways you can submit these to us:
- Sending an uneditable LOA (.pdf) on the corresponding ticket ensuring this is on the End User’s letterhead
- Sending the LOA within an email (.eml) file (attached to the corresponding ticket) where the following are clear:
- the LOA itself is visible
- it’s been submitted from the customer’s business email address
- the customer’s name, business title, company’s full name and address are visible
also
- this LOA may use e-Signature
The second method does not require the LOA to be on the End User’s letterhead and can also be submitted by any member of the company (although it would be best practice for the customer submitting the letter to match the signer).
It’s worth noting that LOAs are now also “site-specific”, so if an End User has multiple sites, one will be required for each site.
In addition to this, there is now a field at the top of the form to confirm if this LOA is to allow the number(s) in question to port, or if it is to cancel a current port. If you wish to cancel a porting request, we may need to request a copy with the relevant box ticked.
If you have any questions about this or porting in general, we will be very pleased to answer them – please contact us at team@simwood.com.
