Summary

  • On 15 October, the CRTC approved direct wireless number-porting access for ISP Telecom and extended it to every registered full MVNO that meets existing requirements.
  • The change moves one operational control point into the MVNO’s own core network. Radio access, consortium obligations and the February 2027 implementation work remain on the board.

Canada’s mobile-number rules had an architectural blind spot. A full mobile virtual network operator can run its own core network, including the switch where a number port happens, yet the old rule sent that port through the carrier supplying its radio access network. Canada’s regulator has now moved the permission closer to the machine doing the work.

Telecom Decision CRTC 2026-271, issued on 15 October, approves ISP Telecom’s request for direct access to wireless local number portability systems. It extends the same route to all full MVNOs registered with the Commission that meet the existing Canadian requirements. The order also tells the Canadian LNP Consortium to update its governance, agreements and cost recovery by 1 February 2027.

The distinction is easier to see in the wiring diagram than in the market label. A full MVNO supplies the mobile network’s core components and uses another carrier’s radio access network. Number porting happens at the core switch. The rule introduced in 2005 treated MVNOs and resellers as providers that had to ask the underlying carrier to perform a port. The later full-MVNO model gave some operators the equipment and control point the older rule had not accounted for.

The ruling gives those operators a direct route into the porting system while retaining the existing WLNP requirements: consortium membership, cost recovery, service intervals and technical rules. Using the route is optional; an eligible MVNO can keep porting through its carrier. That leaves a practical decision for each operator: pay and qualify to run the port itself, or keep the host carrier in the loop.

This is a small change with a precise boundary. The MVNO gains control over a customer’s number transfer; the radio network remains a wholesale dependency. Canada’s number-porting machinery can now follow the core network’s actual owner instead of assuming the tower owner owns every step. The next evidence worth watching is participation by eligible MVNOs and port performance after the consortium’s February changes.

Primary documents: Telecom Decision CRTC 2026-271; Telecom Decision 2005-72; Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-177.