Latin America

Peru records a new high for postpaid mobile number porting in August

OSIPTEL counted 451,029 postpaid lines moved between carriers, 79.53% of the month’s mobile porting. Claro and Entel gained lines in the exchange; the figure is not net market growth.

Peru’s telecom regulator OSIPTEL reported on 7 September that 451,029 postpaid mobile lines moved to a different operator in August, the highest monthly count for that segment since number portability was relaunched in 2014. They accounted for 79.53% of the month’s 567,151 mobile ports. For operators, the result shows competition for customers who keep their number; for users, it shows that switching providers remains widely used. It does not mean that the mobile market added that many subscribers. [1][2]

Number portability lets a customer retain a telephone number when moving a line to another company. OSIPTEL says the process is free and takes less than 24 hours, with the transfer completed in the early hours of the day after a request is submitted. Its figures come from the administrator of the central portability database. From January through August 2026, 4.22 million lines completed a port, according to the regulator. One person can hold several lines or switch more than once, so the number of ports is not a count of distinct people. [1]

Claro recorded a positive net balance of 39,755 lines in August, receiving 200,899 and losing 161,144. Entel gained a net 9,462 lines. Movistar lost a net 22,416 and Bitel 26,836 in exchanges between carriers. A portability balance is the difference between lines won and lost through this process; it need not capture new activations, permanent disconnections or every other customer movement. OSIPTEL also recorded a positive balance of 34 lines for Guinea Mobile. [1][2]

The previous postpaid monthly high, 438,929 ports, was recorded in July 2026. That comparison concerns the postpaid segment in two months, rather than total ports in July versus August. Gestión and other outlets reported OSIPTEL’s figures, adding distribution and context but not an independent measurement from the database administrator. The regulator did not attribute the rise to a particular promotion, price change or network upgrade. Its published figures do not justify making that causal claim. [1][2]

The heavy postpaid share could matter for operators’ efforts to win and retain customers on monthly contracts, but the report contains no operator-level revenue or profitability figures. It does not, by itself, measure coverage or service quality. The next reporting periods will show whether August was an isolated peak or part of a longer pattern. For now, the verified facts are the volume of line transfers and the net gains and losses through portability. [1]

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