Hot word: Cellphone number portability

携号转网 (xiéhào zhuǎn wǎng)

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, a pilot program was launched in five provinces and provincial-level regions including Hainan and Hubei provinces and Tianjin on Saturday, allowing cellphone users to transfer their number from one network operator to another.

This is already a common practice in many countries, which aims to give customers free choice of service provider, and promote telecommunication service quality by encouraging competition.