WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao consumers are still unable to switch telecom providers while keeping their existing telephone number, despite number portability having been under preparation for years and despite Flow and Digicel already working with similar systems in several other Caribbean markets.
Number portability was presented as an important measure to strengthen competition and consumer protection in Curaçao's telecommunications market. It would allow customers who are dissatisfied with their provider to move to another company without having to give up the telephone number they have used for years.
However, implementation has been repeatedly delayed.
The amended National Decree on Designated Telecommunications Services took effect on April 26, 2025, but the government specifically excluded the provision introducing number portability from immediate implementation.
Under the decree, Article 8, paragraph 1(h), must enter into force on a separate date to be established by another national decree. This means the previously announced target of January 1, 2026 was not a legally guaranteed implementation date.
So far, that separate decree establishing the effective date has not been officially published.
The Regulatory Authority of Curaçao (RAC) has previously explained that implementing number portability requires considerably more than changing legislation. Business rules and service agreements must be established, while an independent porting platform must be connected to the providers' systems.
Technical integration and testing are also required, along with privacy safeguards, lawful interception arrangements, staff training and public information.
RAC's 2025 annual report, published in May 2026, confirmed that number portability had still not been implemented and that additional system integration, testing and operational preparations remained necessary.
However, preparations for number portability in Curaçao date back to 2016, raising questions about why the island still does not have a binding and publicly verifiable deadline.
Similar systems have operated elsewhere in the Caribbean for years. Jamaica introduced number portability in 2015, followed by Trinidad and Tobago in 2016. Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines introduced mobile number portability in 2019.
Flow and Digicel operate in several of these markets, meaning both telecommunications groups already have practical experience with number portability elsewhere in the region.
That makes Curaçao's continued delay increasingly difficult to attribute solely to the technical complexity of the system.
Number portability is particularly important because telephone numbers are no longer used simply for calls. They are connected to WhatsApp accounts, banks, customers, government agencies, authentication services and numerous other personal and business contacts.
Changing providers without being able to retain a number can therefore impose significant practical costs on consumers and businesses.
The continued absence of number portability can also weaken competition because dissatisfied customers may hesitate to switch providers if doing so means losing a telephone number that has become central to their personal or professional life.
The remaining question is when Curaçao's government and RAC will move from preparation to implementation and establish a binding date on which consumers can finally switch providers without losing their numbers.