The Nigerian Communi
cations Commission (NCC) says 37, 692 mobile number porting have been recorded in August by the telecommunications network operators.
A statement released by the NCC noted that “Incoming and Outgoing Porting Activities of Mobile Network Operators’’ on Monday showed appreciable increase.
The report showed that there was an increase of 493 in the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) activities in August as against the 37,199 in July.
It said that of the 37,692 porting in August, 20,119 were incoming porting, while 17,573 were outgoing activities.
The report also showed that on the outgoing table, MTN Nigeria lost 6,370 subscribers to other networks and that the loss by MTN showed a decline of 1,800 as against the 8,170 subscribers that left the network in July.
According to the report, MTN is the worst hit during the period under review. It is followed by Airtel Nigeria with a loss of 5,203 customers.
It adds that the loss by Airtel, increased by 263 as against the 4,940 customers who left the network in July.
The report said that Globacom lost 4,660 subscribers during the period, representing an increase of 247 from the July record of 4,413.
It also said that 1,340 customers of Etisalat Nigeria ported to other networks in August, as there was a reduction of 673 subscribers, who left the network when compared to 2,013 users in July.
According to the report, Etisalat gained most from the activities as it recorded additional 14,792 customers on its network in August, with an increase of 1,182 subscribers, compared to 13,610 in July.
Airtel was placed second on the gainers’ list, as it added 2,423 subscribers to its customer strength, showing an increase of 707 customers from the July record of 1,716.
Globacom gained 1,155 subscribers, with an increase of 23 users from the 1,132 that ported to its network in July.
MTN Nigeria also gained 1,749 customers in August, showing an increase of 544, when compared to 1,205 in July.
Our source reports that the exercise was flagged off on April 22, 2013 by the NCC, with the aim at deepening competition in the industry.
The regulatory body has reduced the 90 day porting period to 45 days.
According to the telecommunications regulator, consumers have to remain on the new networks for at least 90 days, before they can move to any other network.
“But consumers have kicked against this, especially when they discover that the new network is worse. So the initial period before a consumer can port again has been reduced by half, from 90 to 45 days.
“The commission has also worked with operators to make porting faster.
“While it generally takes a few hours before the average time base for porting to be effected, efforts are on by the commission over the last one year, to make it get down to between five to 20 minutes,” NCC said.