New GSM Era As Number Portability Begins

At the official flag-off of mobile number portability (MNP) scheme in Lagos yesterday graced by all the federal lawmakers, telecom regulator, service providers and other stakeholders in the sector, MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat gave hint of the next level of competition the market will experience when subscribers are allowed to change mobile network whilst retaining their phone lines by offering to accommodate dissatisfied customers.

With mobile number portability service, mobile subscribers are free to change network merely by working into a recipient network (new operator) service centre, fill a form to migrate and send a text message to 3232 to the National Porting Clearinghouse (NPC) which will inform the donor network (former operator) and the subscriber number and biometric data will be moved to the new network within 48 hours.

Executive vice-chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Eugene Juwah, said that the porting service would be provided free of charge for Nigerian subscribers through Interconnect Clearinghouse Limited, the national porting clearing house who are working together with KPMG, Saab Grintek and Telecordia and the four operators.

After the first porting, subscribers are free to port again after 90 days according to Juwah.

He said “It is anticipated that MNP will impact the way calls are made. Line with prefixes such as 0802, 0803, 0805, 0809 will no longer be a unique identifier for each mobile operator. We will on monthly basis give statistics on the number of ported lines on each operator’s network,” Juwah added.

Meanwhile, chief executive officers of MTN, Airtel, Glo and Etisalat took turns to pitch their networks qualities and customer service capabilities to enrich subscribers’ quality of experience (QoE) should a dissatisfied subscriber indicate readiness to port from his old network to a new one.

Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer of Airtel Nigeria set the ball rolling by saying “I am highly delighted that the day has come. It is a day we’ve waited for.  MNP is an opportunity for everybody in this room to move to the best friend’s network while retaining their numbers. MNP is a call for service providers to put their house in order.

He said when Airtel entered Nigeria in 2010 it was the first to call for MNP to give subscribers freedom to choose their network while retaining their numbers.

Mr. Bret Goschen, chief executive office, MTN Nigeria said “There are many reasons whey more subscribers choose MTN than all our competition put together. Think about it. We are at MTN have experience of implementing MNP in others countries. We are in a position to advise customers that are ready to port. We look forward to this new collaboration and look forward to welcoming new subscribers.”

Ndidi Okpalauba, representing CEO of Etisalat said they had anticipated the service. Recounting the first MPN implementation in Singapore in 1997 and UK in 199 and other countries, she said “It will be a success in Nigeria. Etisalat Nigeria is committed to making it a model around the world.”

Mr. Olayinka Olayiwola representing Globacom said “MNP presents a lot of potential for consumers. We are Globacom are ready for this game changer. Nigerians today have the freedom to choose their network.”

Earlier on, the chairman of the MNP implementation committee and director of legal and regulatory service at Nigerian Communications Commission, Ms. Josephine Amuwa said the power had moved from the operators to the subscribers.

Chairman of House Committee on Communications, Mr. Oyetunde Ojo and chairman, Senate committee on Communications, Mr. Gilbert Nnaji represented by Senator Anthony Adebiyi said the scheme was a welcome development meant to deepen competition in the telecom market.

Earlier, the minister of Communications, Mrs. Omobola Johnson represented by Mr. Peter Igho, chairman of NCC board said the government was working on addressing quality of service issues with MNP being one of the ways. She thanked the NCC and the operators to making it a reality.

[Leadership]