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80,424 telecoms subscribers ported in 10 months –NCC

By on April 19, 2014

The Mobile Number Portability scheme has so far produced 80,444 out-porting cases 10 months after its inception.

Latest statistics from the Nigerian Communication Commission showed that 80,444 subscribers ported out of the various networks between May 2013 and February this year, probably because of their crave for better services.

In the period under focus, MTN, the biggest telecoms company in the country, recorded 36,819 cases of subscribers porting out of the network, followed by Airtel, Globacom and Etisalat with 22,595; 12,357; and 8,653 cases, respectively.

Between May last year and February 2014, MTN recorded monthly out-porting figures of 3,409; 2,719; 3,142; 3,925; 4,266; 4,453; 4,491; 3,052; 3,667; and 3,695.

For the same period, Airtel recorded monthly out-porting figures of 1,190; 1,315; 1,327; 5,826; 6,520; 1,447; 1,004; 1,199; 1,429; and 1,338.

Globacom also recorded monthly out-porting figures of 1,646; 1,122; 1,367; 1,354; 1,267; 1,204; 1,206; 973; 978; and 1,240 for the period.

Etisalat had the lowest number of subscribers who left its network with a monthly figure of 768; 646; 917; 934; 1,019; 1,001; 1,129; 626; 806 and 807 for the period.

With this, MTN accounted for about 45.78 per cent of out-porters; Airtel, 28.09 per cent; Globacom, 15.36 per cent; and Etisalat, 10.75 per cent.

Nigeria currently has over 129.6 million active telephone lines, with a teledensity of 92.14 per cent. Teledensity is the number of telephone connections for every hundred individuals living within an area.

It varies widely across nations and also between urban and rural areas within a country. Teledensity has significant correlation with the per capita Gross Domestic Product of the area. It is also used as an indicator of economic development of the country or specific region.

Amid these developments, some stakeholders believe the Mobile Number Portability scheme has yet to be fully explored by subscribers as a result of some conditions attached to it.

Some of the issues that have been brought to the fore include the fact that a subscriber must stay for 90 days on a particular network before he can migrate to another after the initial porting; the 48-hour processing period for porting; poor awareness, especially in the hinterlands; and the need for physical presence before a successful porting can be achieved.

But the NCC said it was not convinced about the need to review the existing framework of the MNP scheme.

The Head, Media and Public Relations, NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, recently told our correspondent that the commission had not seen enough reasons to commence the review of the MNP scheme.

“That some people are saying we need to review some conditions of the MNP does not mean the commission will automatically start reviewing the terms,” he said.

Muoka, however, told our correspondent that the infrastructure on the ground currently would not permit the implementation of some of the proposals, adding that possible security issues were also being assessed in that regard.

[Punch]