Ilyashev & Partners has successfully acted on behalf of Kyivstar

Ilyashev & Partners has successfully acted on behalf of Kyivstar, Ukrainian mobile operator, in administrative proceedings against the National Communications Commission (NCC) with regard to the introduction of the nationwide mobile number portability (MNP).

There have been attempts to introduce the mobile number portability in the recent years. Last year, the Commission eventually approved a regulation governing the operation of MNP and setting the time frame for its implementation. The regulation, in particular, contained a requirement for a centralized number database. The database was to be operated by Ukrainian Names and Addresses Centre, a company hardly known to anyone, while major mobile operators and their subsidiaries were precluded from participating in the tender offer.

Commission was brought to court. Finally, the regulation on the implementation of mobile number portability was ruled partly invalid by the court of first appellate jurisdiction. While Kyivstar did not contest the MNP service itself, the court invalidated a number of provisions in Commission’s regulation as conflicting with existing communications regulations.

Now, the Commission will have to update the invalidated regulation and, after obtaining the mobile operators’ approval, seek a new registration with the Ministry of Justice. Recent new appointments of Commission officers leave us hope that this time the NCC will act in compliance with the law and respect the legal interests of all mobile operators.