China is to launch a commercial trial of mobile number portability in Tianjin Municipality and Hainan province on November 22, reported China Securities Journal, citing a document released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The MIIT has formally issued the document to the country’s big three operators, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, clearly expressing that the “mobile number portability commercial trial” will be launched on November 22 in the cities of Tianjin and Hainan, which means the eagerly awaited “mobile number portability” has kicked off .

Mobile number portability, which allows people to change carriers without having to change numbers, will encourage China’s 3G users to switch to China Unicom from China Mobile, as the former’s 3G technology is more mature.

According to the document, in Tianjin, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom ‘s 3G users can switch to other carriers without changing numbers, except TD-SCDMA users, but in Hainan, only China Mobile’s 3G users can switch to China Telecom and China Unicom, and th e latter two’s 3G users cannot switch to China Mobile.

China Unicom A-share gained 1.31 percent to close at 5.40 Yuan Friday, largely at market performance.

The benchmark Shanghai composite index rose 1.38 percent to refresh seven-month high closing at 3,129.50 points.