Over 4.2 million phone numbers have changed their telecom operator but not their user in the nine years since this option has become available on the local market, according to the telecom regulator ANCOM.

More than 3.5 million numbers have switched operators in mobile networks and almost 700,000 in fixed networks.

Telecom clients in Romania have been able to take their phone number from one network to another starting October 21, 2008. Before that date, users who left a telecom operator would lose their phone number.

The number of network transfers has grown every year, reaching 844,000 in 2015 and almost 940,000 in 2016. Since the beginning of this year, over 700,000 transfers were registered.

In the nine years, over 1.3 million numbers that switched their mobile carrier went to RCS&RDS, some 844,000 went from other networks to Vodafone, and 824,000 to Orange. Telekom got some 564,000 numbers following such transfers.

editor@romania-insider.com