Emma Okonji
Telecoms operators across networks, witnessed inward porting in September, the highest recorded in the last eight months, according to statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
NCC report showed that a total of 14,375 telecom subscribers switched networks in the month under review.
A breakdown of the figures showed that more subscribers ported from other networks to 9mobile network in search of better service quality as the telco recorded a total number of 9,823 inward porting of subscribers from other networks, in just one month.
This was followed by MTN, which recorded 2,041 inward porting in the same month, while Airtel recorded 1,720 inward porting, and Globacom recorded only 791 inward porting in the same month.
Inward porting means the number of numbers ported from another service provider’s network into a service provider’s own network.
Worried about the large number of inward porting in one month, telecoms operators said subscribers were at liberty to port from one network to any network of choice.
But NCC attributed the huge number of inward porting to poor service quality recorded on most networks, as well the reliability and speed of data service offered by most networks in the month under review.
The Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Dr. Henry Nkemadu, who attributed the development to poor service quality, however, said most subscribers equally ported to other networks because they wanted to enjoy cheaper call and data rates on various promos offered by network operators.
Nkemadu, however, said the NCC had given subscribers the opportunity to port from one network to another if they were not satisfied with the quality of service offered by their network operators.
“The essence of Mobile Number Portability, which the NCC introduced some years ago, offers telecoms subscribers the flexibility to move at will from one network to another, while still retaining their original mobile numbers. They will not be subjected to a particular network if they have reasons to leave the network, and that is the beauty of Mobile Number Portability,” Nkemadu said.
The NCC statistics described the monthly porting trend in the telecommunications sector per mobile operator and referred to the number of transactions whereby a mobile number is transferred from one service provider to another on the request of a subscriber who wishes to change service provider while keeping the same telephone number.
The NCC data also showed that in August, a total of 11,040 subscribers ported from various networks; in July it was 10,378; in June -10,846; May – 10,781; April – 8,541, while in March it was 10,945, which made the porting figure for September the highest in the last eight months.
The statistics, however, shows that 9mobile has maintained the highest number of inward porting from other networks into its network in the last eight months.
NCC had launched the Mobile Number Portability in 2013 against the wishes of telecoms operators.
