WITH about 100 days into Mobile Number Porting (MNP) scheme in the
country, it has been mixed fortunes for the telecommunications
operators, going by statistics from the Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC).
Already, the April statistics showed that the country currently has 119 million active subscribers out of over 165 million connected lines.
Interestingly, the quartet of MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat, which are the GSM operators, control 117 million active subscribers.
Indeed, the NCC number porting statistics for the month of May and June showed that MTN had 10 per cent porting gain for the month of May and 49 per cent losses. Globacom had 17 per cent porting gain and 23 per cent losses; Etisalat 44 per cent gain and 11 per cent losses; while Airtel cornered 29 per cent porters and lost 17 per cent for the month under review.
The trend continued in the month of June, with Globacom gaining 29 per cent of porters and lost 19 per cent. MTN gained nine per cent of porters and lost 47 per cent.
Etisalat, with over five years of operation in Nigeria had 50 per cent porting gains and 11 per cent losses, while NCC statistics revealed that Airtel had 12per cent porting gain and lost 23 per cent in June.
NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Tony Ojobo, who spoke with The Guardian Wednesday, confirmed the traffic in the porting scheme, which was launched in Nigeria on April 22.
Ojobo said MNP has deepened competition so far and given subscribers a choice to switch networks without losing their unique number, describing it as one of the gains of the milestone 12th year of commercial roll out of GSM services in Nigeria since August 2001.
MNP, which is the process that enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another, got into Nigeria a little behind schedule in 2013, when the about 35 million subscribers in 2004 have had to cope with the challenge of quality of Service provisioning in the country.
The Guardian had reported that Nigeria is the 64th country to port numbers, after the likes of Singapore, which pioneered it in 1994; New Zealand; USA; Ghana; South Africa among others.
Furthermore, investigations also revealed that the NCC has not jettisoned its planned review of the various technicalities perceived to be hindering faster adoption of MNP in the country.
Indeed, beside issues around the process of porting, including the 90-day stay duration on a particular network before any other migration; the 48 hours processing period to port; poor awareness; especially in the hinterland; need for physical presence before porting; the preference for dual and multi-SIM mobile devices are some of the perceived challenges facing the scheme in the country.
At a post event interview in Lagos recently, NCC’s Director of Legal and Regulatory Services, Josephine Amuwa confirmed that there might be a review of the MNP rules as being canvassed in different quarters of late.
Amuwa, who also hinted that any operator found hindering the smooth flow of the process would be slammed with a fine of N200, 000 per a subscriber, noted that MNP is a key facilitator of consumer choice and effective competition in the telecommunications environment.
“A defaulting operator risk the sum of N200, 000 per a subscriber discovered to have been denied by porting”, she stated.
Already, the April statistics showed that the country currently has 119 million active subscribers out of over 165 million connected lines.
Interestingly, the quartet of MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat, which are the GSM operators, control 117 million active subscribers.
Indeed, the NCC number porting statistics for the month of May and June showed that MTN had 10 per cent porting gain for the month of May and 49 per cent losses. Globacom had 17 per cent porting gain and 23 per cent losses; Etisalat 44 per cent gain and 11 per cent losses; while Airtel cornered 29 per cent porters and lost 17 per cent for the month under review.
The trend continued in the month of June, with Globacom gaining 29 per cent of porters and lost 19 per cent. MTN gained nine per cent of porters and lost 47 per cent.
Etisalat, with over five years of operation in Nigeria had 50 per cent porting gains and 11 per cent losses, while NCC statistics revealed that Airtel had 12per cent porting gain and lost 23 per cent in June.
NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Tony Ojobo, who spoke with The Guardian Wednesday, confirmed the traffic in the porting scheme, which was launched in Nigeria on April 22.
Ojobo said MNP has deepened competition so far and given subscribers a choice to switch networks without losing their unique number, describing it as one of the gains of the milestone 12th year of commercial roll out of GSM services in Nigeria since August 2001.
MNP, which is the process that enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another, got into Nigeria a little behind schedule in 2013, when the about 35 million subscribers in 2004 have had to cope with the challenge of quality of Service provisioning in the country.
The Guardian had reported that Nigeria is the 64th country to port numbers, after the likes of Singapore, which pioneered it in 1994; New Zealand; USA; Ghana; South Africa among others.
Furthermore, investigations also revealed that the NCC has not jettisoned its planned review of the various technicalities perceived to be hindering faster adoption of MNP in the country.
Indeed, beside issues around the process of porting, including the 90-day stay duration on a particular network before any other migration; the 48 hours processing period to port; poor awareness; especially in the hinterland; need for physical presence before porting; the preference for dual and multi-SIM mobile devices are some of the perceived challenges facing the scheme in the country.
At a post event interview in Lagos recently, NCC’s Director of Legal and Regulatory Services, Josephine Amuwa confirmed that there might be a review of the MNP rules as being canvassed in different quarters of late.
Amuwa, who also hinted that any operator found hindering the smooth flow of the process would be slammed with a fine of N200, 000 per a subscriber, noted that MNP is a key facilitator of consumer choice and effective competition in the telecommunications environment.
“A defaulting operator risk the sum of N200, 000 per a subscriber discovered to have been denied by porting”, she stated.
No comments:
Post a Comment