Number portability fees

I received my final bill from Optus the other day and in amongst all the crap they send is a notice that from the 15th April 2004 an $8 fee will apply “to any customer who switches their mobile phone number from Optus to another carrier or service provider”. That’s pretty low. The number portability legislation came in to encourage competition between mobile phone providers – effectively breaking down some of the barriers to switching. Now admittedly an $8 fee probably isn’t going to stop someone from switching but it’s still pretty low I think. Fortunately, I changed providers before that fee came in.