Telcos Frustrate MNP- Onwudiwe

Telecom subscribers wishing to migrate from one network to another, under the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) regime, are being frustrated by some telecom operators, according to Uche Onwudiwe, chief operating officer, Interconnect Clearing House Nigeria Limited.

Onwudiwe said that subscribers who are interested in porting to another network are being delayed by SMS routing during the porting process.

“But all those will change; we are working with the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to change the part where people are complaining about, so that the number of people will increase. Actually, we have been having a number of them porting; the number will continue to grow. So by implementing some changes we are making now, in a couple of weeks, we are going to see changes”.

Onwudiwe added that, “The critical area is where subscribers are restricted in the porting access. We are hopeful it will come out better. It is actually meeting the objectives where people can move from one network to another.

“But in the process where people have to send SMS, we are seeing a situation where SMS are not getting through and the responses from the operators are what we are working on to ensure full obligation. We are working with them to clear that process; then the subscribers will experience seamless process.

“When we have done our part; that is, clarifying with the operators, any of them who intentionally frustrates the process shall be taken care of by the NCC,” he explained.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek recalled that MNP was launched in furtherance to the NCC’s objectives of protecting consumer interest through the development, monitoring and enforcement of compliance with regulations by telecommunications service providers in order to ensure better quality services, fair pricing and competition, and in line with the provisions of section 128 of the Nigerian Communication Act (NCA) 2003 which vests the NCC with the exclusive right to regulate numbers and number portability in Nigeria.

The COO said he hopes the operators play according to the rules guiding the porting process for easier implementation.

After its launch on April 22, 2013, over 4,000 subscribers of the four GSM operators migrated, to other operators’ network within 48 hours.

However, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that telecom operators have perfected measures to ensure that the critical aspect of the process that involves the intending migration subscribers to forward a short message service (SMS) from one network to another is hobbled.

Going by the “Technical and Operational Principles of MNP Service” released by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) following the MNP launch, “mobile service providers are expected to cooperate to provide port order processes which will be simple, clear, customer friendly and which provides honest information to the customer at all times”.

“Such processes will also consistently meet and improve on the porting timescales provided in the ‘Porting Timescales’ section of the NCC’s document”, but it is not yet uhuru for the “portees”. To port, the subscriber is required to complete a Port Request Form and send a text message with the word “PORT” to a short code “3232”. “Assistance will be made available if required,” the Regulator assured from the beginning.