If a phone number was ported to another provider , and then that ‘new’ provider stopped supplying telephony to the customer that requested the port in the first place , the number is returned to the original number range holder …..before that number is made available for allocation again ( by the number ranger holder ) the number is held in quarantine for a while , to minimise the chances of the customer given that number receiving calls for the previous people who had it .
Presumably in your case BT are the number range holder , so when you say is it possible to reclaim it , who do you want to do the reclaiming , if it’s not BT but another provider , you need to ask them , if you want BT to reissue the number to you at the same address BT previously supplied it to , then it’s possible but not guaranteed, and as stated with PSTN closing down it’s less likely to be possible to retrieve it .
