Mobile number portability hits Australia next Tuesday, but users should wait a few months for the real benefits to arrive, urges one engineer close to the issue.

The MD for the company that installed MNP software for Optus, John O'Brien, said carriers were already offering unseen discounts to lure competitor clientele in the lead up to mobile number portability.

But he predicted carriers would lower pricing even further when the initial wave of MNP-inspired customer -churn" had subsided.

All Australian mobile users will be able to keep their numbers if they change carriers after September 25.

Around 2 million Australians - around 25 percent of the country's mobile users - will be able to change carriers on that date. The remaining 75 percent will be unable to change carriers immediately because they will be obliged by contract to stay with their present carriers.

O'Brien said the early days of MNP would see -unhappy" consumers rushing to change carriers.

However, that rush would subside within two months and carriers would lower prices in attempt to stimulate further churn, he said.

-Christmas is going to be very nice for phones this year."

O'Brien said mobile carriers would gradually be forced to adjust their pricing structures to cope with high churn rates once MNP was introduced.

-There's a very high subsidy on handsets. Handsets will become more expensive but calls will come down," he said.

O'Brien's company, Whitesmiths, updated Optus's existing customer relationship management software to accommodate number porting processes.

He said his observations were based similar MNP implementations his company had carried out in Europe.

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