PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Nigeria begins mobile number portability 22 April, 2013
Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigerians will Monday, 22 April, 2013, begin to enjoy the benefits of porting their mobile phone numbers from one network to another, while still retaining their original numbers, local newspapers reported, saying that the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) across the networks of the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators will be launched Monday in Lagos
In technical parlance, Mobile Number Portability is a process that allows subscribers to migrate from one network to another in search of quality service, while still retaining their original phone numbers, irrespective of the network the subscriber chooses to migrate to.
The papers quoted the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as saying in its released guidelines, that porting would be free of charge for subscribers, but insisted that subscribers could port their numbers once every 90 days.
Optimistic that the portability launch would benefit both subscribers and operators, the Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Tony Ojobo, said that MNP would lead to quality service and increased healthy competition among operators, in addition to the introduction of value added services by the operators to attract more subscribers to their various networks.
He said the new programme would enhance billing integrity since operators would not want to lose customers who may be willing to shift to another network if they feel short-changed by the network’s billing system.
In spite of its benefits for subscribers as listed by Ojobo, the implication for subscribers is that no subscriber is allowed to port a number more than once in three months (90 days).
-0- PANA VAO 22April2013
In technical parlance, Mobile Number Portability is a process that allows subscribers to migrate from one network to another in search of quality service, while still retaining their original phone numbers, irrespective of the network the subscriber chooses to migrate to.
The papers quoted the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as saying in its released guidelines, that porting would be free of charge for subscribers, but insisted that subscribers could port their numbers once every 90 days.
Optimistic that the portability launch would benefit both subscribers and operators, the Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Tony Ojobo, said that MNP would lead to quality service and increased healthy competition among operators, in addition to the introduction of value added services by the operators to attract more subscribers to their various networks.
He said the new programme would enhance billing integrity since operators would not want to lose customers who may be willing to shift to another network if they feel short-changed by the network’s billing system.
In spite of its benefits for subscribers as listed by Ojobo, the implication for subscribers is that no subscriber is allowed to port a number more than once in three months (90 days).
-0- PANA VAO 22April2013
