Telephone porting rises by 100%
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Telephone number porting – subscribers switching from one network carrier to another – jumped 100 per cent to 13,985 in the first quarter ended March 2022 (Q1 2022), according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Subscribers retain their numbers when they change networks because of poor service quality offerings by their original providers.
But no subscriber left their operator in Q1 2021, as tracked under the outward porting category on portal of the NCC.
The NCC defines outward porting as “the number of numbers ported to another service provider’s network from a service provider’s own network.”
Airtel lost 10,023 subscribers to other networks in Q1 2922 while 9mobile shed 2,930 along with MTN (582) and Glo (450).
The NCC in December 2020 directed telecom companies to suspend sale, registration, and activation of new SIM cards. That impacted porting numbers as subscribers could not switch service providers.
“In furtherance of its efforts to promote competition, improve quality of service and ensure that consumers continue to enjoy a good experience on the mobile networks, the NCC launched mobile number portability service for GSM subscribers in April 2013,” the NCC said at the time.
“The MNP [mobile network portability] enables consumers to switch networks without losing their cellular phone numbers.”
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How MNP works
MNP works on Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number and not on International Subscriber Mobile Identity, hence affecting all MSISDN-based services like SMS, MMS, voice calls, and other prepaid services, the NCC said, per The PUNCH.
There is no restriction as to the number of times a subscriber can port but there is at least a 45-day restriction time between each porting.
Subscribers have struggled to switch network providers since the government banned the sale of new SIMs and related activities due to National Identification Number-Subscriber Identity Module exercise in December 2020.
Those who switched networks fell from 182,958 in 2020 to 11,250 in 2021.