Dissatisfied customers port numbers

Figures released by the National Communications Authority (NCA) shows an increase in the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service. But are customers’ expectations being met? Jessica Acheampong and Rita Adongo find out

 

The introduction of MNP in the country in July 2011 gave mobile users the opportunity to switch from one network to the other based on their expectations, preference and service quality.

The service heightened competition among mobile service providers as they strove to offer best products and services to retain their clients and lure new subscribers unto their network.

A year on after implementation, the NCA reports that a total of 370,107 mobile subscribers moved their numbers between networks by their owners.

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is a system which allows mobile customers to move from one mobile service provider to another, while retaining their entire mobile number identity.

The smooth implementing and the robustness of the MNP infrastructure also ensured that porting time has greatly improved over the global average of one day. Porting time for the period, however, attained a record 22 minutes as shown by the most recent data, with typical average porting time range of seven to eight minutes.

A consultant of MNP at the NCA, Mr Bob Palitz, who presented the report at a ceremony to mark the first year of MNP in Ghana, said the 370,107 successful ports represented 75 per cent of total porting requests for the year, while the remaining 25 per cent were aborted due to network failures or customers’ failure to meet porting requirements.

The total number of successful ports according to the report is 1.6 per cent of the total number of mobile phone lines, while 8.3 per cent represent people who ported their numbers more than once, subsequently at least one person has ported five times within the period.

 

NET EARNINGS BY SERVICE PROVIDERS

Mr Palitz cautioned against interpreting the figures to adversely affect the operator’s subscriber base and market share as the number of ports out of a particular network should be situated within the context of the size of that network and the period under review.

Among the six telecommunication companies currently operating in the country, tiGO gained 68,000 ports into its network followed by Vodafone with 43,000. Glo also gained 7,500 followed by Airtel with 6,800 gains.

Market leader, MTN, however, lost 125,000 subscribers, while Expresso also lost 418 subscribers.

TiGo ported in 147,709 and with 79,479 subscribers porting out; Vodafone had 103,243 porting in, and 59,751 porting out; Glo had 7,984 in and 425 out, while Airtel recorded 44,742 in and 38,244 out.

Expresso had 304 porting in and 722 porting out, and market leader MTN had 66,320 porting in and 191,681 porting out.

 

SUBSCRIBERS REVIEW

The service had been rated as been successful in Ghana by stakeholders in the industry as it has given customers the opportunity to demand for better services.

A subscriber, Ms Evelyn Obeng Akese, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in Accra that she ported from MTN to Airtel as a result of high rates charged on her network which she described as “outrageous” in the face of congestion networks most at times.

Airtel, she explained, charged less for their calls and she barely had to deal with issues of congestion on the network adding MNP had helped her to make a choice to enjoy better services.

Another subscriber, Ms Alice Aryeetey, who ported from tiGo to MTN said she did so because of bad services.

“I ported because of bad services. I couldn’t make calls for about two weeks and when I contacted my service provider nothing was done about it,” she said.

She said she moved to MTN because of their fast internet services adding “at that time there was no 3G for tiGo although they had nice packages.”

Asked if her expectations of porting were met, she was skeptical saying her new network had its own problems which made her regret porting at times, saying “I sometimes regret but it is all good.”

Mr Philip Amoakohene, a two-time porter tells the Graphic Business he ported from MTN to Vodafone and later to Glo.

He said he ported from MTN due to what he described as “bad customer service.” Customers he said were not treated well as their calls were not answered and not given bonus credits.

“MTN did not respect their customers. Their services were not good because they had a lot of customers. Vodafone was willing to give customers more bonuses and double credit.”

Recounting why he ported to Glo, he said he chose the network just to try their services because being a new network, he thought their services would be better.

Asked if he had any regrets, he said, he regretted porting to Glo as his expectations were not met hence he was going to port back to Vodafone.