Press releases

Jun 30, 2009

The French association established for the portability of fixed phone numbers (APNF - Association de la Portabilité des Numéros Fixes) has selected Steria to develop the information system used to build a benchmark database of all transferred fixed phone numbers. This database, which will be in service beginning of 2010, aims at shortening the interruption of service when numbers are being transferred and at improving routing service quality for calls made to transferred fixed numbers.

Telephone operators are required to provide their subscribers with offers allowing them to change their landline operator while keeping the same phone number. The growing number of portability requests over the past few years has required operators to centralise information related to these requests. In order to optimise the landline portability process, French operators have created an association for the portability of fixed phone numbers (APNF). The goals of the association are to: Provide operators with a benchmark database of all transferred fixed phone numbers, which will allow them to access call routing information. Facilitate communication between operators concerning follow ups of portability requests. Facilitate billing between operators for calls made from transferred fixed phone numbers. The APNF has chosen Steria to set up this directory. The European IT-enabled business services provider will also be in charge of the hosting, maintenance, support and operation for this system and its technical platform.

Steria, a leading player in IT services in the telecommunications industry, is a major partner for a large number of telephone operators in France and Europe. Several factors convinced the APNF of Steria's capability to partner with the Association in meeting its ambitious goals: Steria's close relationship with the different operators; its skill in handling their business challenges; its successful experience in setting up the central mobile number portability system two years ago.

"Steria's experience in managing similar large-scale products, combined with a strong commitment on the part of its employee and management teams, will allow us to provide operators with effective suport. This will be done using a model that can handle the diversity of the challenges they face (service quality, reliability, economic efficiency)" explains Jérôme Bouvier, Director of the APNF.

Bernard Grauloup, director of the telecom sector for Steria, has this to say: "We are aware of the challenges facing the fixed phone number portability information system and have created a highly upgradable system that will allow it to adapt to future technical and functional requirements."

Steria will provide an end-to-end service to the APNF by managing all the stages involved in building and operating the shared database of transferred fixed phone numbers: design and development, initialisation, tests and acceptance, support and maintenance and secure hosting. Based on its feedback, Steria's approach will guarantee that these objectives will be met, while ensuring the security of critical phases.

About the APNF: The French association established for the portability of fixed Phone Numbers (APNF - Association de la Portabilité des Numéros Fixes) was created on 20 January 2009 by nine telecom operators (B3G, BOUYGUES TELECOM, COLT, COMPLETEL, FRANCE TELECOM, FREE, PROSODIE, SFR, VERIZON). The association is setting up a directory to centralise the information needed to process portability requests, whatever the operator and type of fixed number involved. All operators that manage telephone numbers may join the association to take advantage of its services.