FG, Operators Kick-Start Number Porting Service Monday




The federal government and operators of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) services are now set to flag-off mobile number portability (MNP) scheme next week Monday in Lagos.

The implementation will allow mobile telecommunications subscribers move their subscriber identification module (SIM) numbers from one network to another if they are dissatisfied with the customer service of their current network service provider.

Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, will be the special guest of honour, while the top echelon of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and telecommunications industry operators and stakeholders will also be part of the flag-off.

Johnson said number portability means that subscribers have a choice and hopefully it would increase competition in the industry.

“That doesn’t stop the quality of service issued because we have a nationwide quality of service issue at this moment. We are doing a number other things to work on quality of service issues, making it easier for our network operators to rollout infrastructure without the bottlenecks of multiple taxes and multiple regulation, the cost of Right of Way (RoW), the vandalisation of ICT infrastructures.

“Mobile number portability gives you a choice, it is the best of a bad situation kind of thing but what we really need to focus on is to improve infrastructure so that we don’t have to be moving from network to network, you stay on a network and you get the right quality of service,” she said reiterating   that the federal government was  working with the state governments, mobile operators, NCC and the Ministry of Works to resolve the number of disputes and  make quality of service a thing of the past.

The number portability scheme will be implemented by MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat, the four major mobile operators in Nigeria. The NCC has selected Interconnect Exchange Limited as the clearinghouse for all the mobile operators. The NCC postponed MNP take-off date a number of times from September 2012 to March 2013. The service is however projected to increase quality of experience (QoE) for subscribers.



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