International Porting Process

Overview

The following topics are discussed in this guide. Click a topic to skip directly to this information:

Standard Porting Service Countries
International Porting Process
Regulatory Compliance
Porting Fees
Canceling a Port Request

What You Need To Know

Porting a telephone number is a multi-step process that can take up to 4-6 weeks. It depends on the type of number(s) and the country you are willing to port in.

This process includes a lot of coordination between your current carrier and Twilio.

We offer porting as part of our Standard Service in the following countries:

To submit your International port request, please use porting submission form.

Notice: Requirements, procedures, and porting fees may vary depending on the country where your phone number is based. For country-specific information, please check specific countries guidelines here. Please note that most of International Phone Numbers have VOICE capability only. Only Mobile numbers have VOICE and SMS.

Special note: In case the country you wish to port is not listed on the above Standard porting offering list, we recommend to reach out to your Account Executive to discuss options for porting in non-standard countries. Your account Executive will be able to provide you with more specific details on the process. Twilio is working on making more countries available for porting; we hope we’ll be able to support this request as part of our standard offering soon.

If you don't have an account executive, please reach out to us using the following link.

Porting is the process of transferring a phone number from one Telecommunications Service Provider to another.

Number Portability provides the capability for the customer of one Communications Provider (the Losing Communications Provider) to become a customer of another Communications Provider (the Gaining Communications Provider) while retaining the same number(s).

In all instances only the number(s) will be ported not the service, the Losing Communication Provider (LCP) will cease the access line and remove all associated services at the time of the port.

The Gaining Communication Provider (GCP) will provide the customer with the agreed services when the number is ported to their network. The number must be in use and working to be portable.

After you initiate your port request via porting submission form , the process looks as follows:

Upon receiving your approval for the porting fee(s) for which you will be charged, Twilio will review your porting request. If all the requirements including LOA are correctly fulfilled, you can expect your porting request to be submitted on the same day (Twilio will review your porting request within one (1) business day).
Your request will either be approved or rejected. Note: Do not close your account with your carrier. The account must remain active until your phone numbers have finished porting out to Twilio.
Rejected: If rejected, Twilio will send you an e-mail informing you that your porting request was unsuccessful. Rejection can occur due to a variety of reasons, depending on the market the reasons can vary. The porting team will provide you the reason and the resolution of the rejection. Additionally, you may need to contact your current carrier to resolve the issue that caused your porting request to be rejected. Depending on your carrier’s porting requirements, this may add an undetermined amount of time to your porting request.
Approved: If approved, Twilio will send you an email of your porting date for when your number will be transferred to Twilio. Once your date has passed and you’ve verified the number has transferred to your Twilio project, you can begin using your number. Please configure your voice and SMS URLs (if applicable) in advance of the port date to ensure there is no disruption in the traffic that flows through your number(s) during the porting process (do not close your account with your carrier and keep the numbers you wish to port active).

For help setting up your numbers to respond to incoming communications with your Twilio application, we advise you to reach out to our support team via the Twilio help center.

You should check your configurations and test your applications to ensure that your phone numbers will work once ported to Twilio.
Once the port completed on the scheduled day we will inform you by email. Your number will be live with Twilio on your porting date.
After porting is completed, please contact your previous service provider to turn off service.

Regulatory Compliance

In order to port your number to Twilio, you also agree to comply with the regulatory rules in the specific market you are porting in.

For the benefit of all our customers, these guidelines are provided to help you comply with applicable requirements and to help ensure Twilio's platform remains compliant with global telecommunications ecosystem requirements. These guidelines represent our current understanding of common compliance requirements generally applicable to Twilio and its customers and do not constitute legal advice. By posting these guidelines, Twilio makes no assurances regarding the legal compliance of your application built using our APIs. You are expected to understand and abide by all compliance obligations applicable to your specific application. You should check these pages regularly for updates as telecommunications ecosystem requirements continue to evolve and change, and the information below may be updated or changed without notice.

Please see the phone number regulations for each market here.

Porting Fees

All porting fees can be viewed once you select country and numbers type on the porting submission form. Once you have submitted your port via the porting form. Twilio will check if all required information is provided and submit the port to carrier partner and losing provider.

Canceling a Port Request

We can easily cancel your port request up until the point in time when the port date has been scheduled.

Once a port date has been scheduled, cancellation becomes more difficult and riskier because the service providers involved may have already begun the process of re-configuring your phone number. The further we are in the process when you decide to cancel, the less likely it is that we will be able to successfully cancel the port.

Please let us know at least 3 business days prior to the scheduled day if you wish to cancel an already accepted port order.

To request the cancellation of your port, please respond to the email regarding your port request or send a new email to porting@twilio.com. In your email, please indicate clearly which port numbers you would like to cancel.

Once we receive your request, we’ll promptly check with the underlying carriers, and determine if we are able to cancel the port request.

Conclusion

Porting a telephone number is a multi-step process that can take up to 4-6 weeks. This guide highlights the overall process and relevant information. If you have questions this article did not answer, please reach out to our support team.