Airtel bides its time for number deal

Monday 31st March 2008, 2:29PM BST.

THE introduction of mobile number portability will be an important step towards Airtel-Vodafone establishing itself in Guernsey, according to Bharti Group CEO Sunil Bharti Mittal.

The founder of the company that owns Airtel said allowing mobile phone users to keep their number if they change service providers was imperative to achieving a level playing field.

‘We are here with the promise of mobile number portability on 1 December,’ said Mr Mittal (pictured). He accepted that until then attracting new customers would be more difficult because some people would be unwilling to change their number.