JAMAICA will have to wait another 22 days to begin switching from one mobile carrier to the next following an announcement that telecoms giant LIME is still not ready for the implementation of number portability.

“LIME has been given a 22-day extension because some of the testing that they have been doing has failed and they really need the time to sort it out,” minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Phillip Paulwell, told the Jamaica Observer in an telephone interview last Friday.

The new implementation date is June 22.

“I met with all the players today, and we have determined that all the testing must be completed before that time and that the modifications be done to system to ensure that we have no further delays,” he added.

Number portability should have been implemented in Jamaica from December 2012. Paulwell later revised it to the end of 2013. Since then, the process has been pushed back some five times, with the latest date being May 31.

Reports are that LIME has created a number of the delays, while Digicel is insisting that it will not go ahead unless there is full mobility with LIME.

Last month, Paulwell informed the House of Representatives that he has issued a Number Portability Administrator license to Porting Access BV, a company out of the Netherlands, which was working to ensure that the May 31 deadline would be met. The license took effect on March 16 and is expected to last for a period of 10 years.

Porting Access BV is mandated to establish, operate, manage, coordinate, and maintain a number portability central reference database and an automated central order handling system, in addition to related activities for the provision of number portability.

Number portability arrangement will allow Jamaicans to move from one service provider to another while retaining their mobile and fixed telephone numbers. The system will also enable greater competition among players within the telecoms industry, resulting in lower prices and more innovative products and service.