Ghana to implement Mobile Number Portability in 2011
Ghana will implement Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in 2011, the Minister of Communications has said.
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu says there will be no turning back on the implementation of MNP early 2011.
Mobile number portability is a system that allows phone users to move their phone number completely, including the network code, to another network.
Some telecom operators resisted the implementation of that system under the previous government.
Airtel, then Zain Ghana, was one of the first three operators in Ghana to say it was ready for MNP, but the market leader, MTN came out only recently to say it is also ready.
Mr. Iddrisu used the occasion of the rebranding of Zain Ghana to airtel to reassure the over 16 million mobile subscribers in the country that come early next year, they will have the power to punish poor network service by moving from one network to the other with their original phone numbers.
He said MNP will be Presidents Mills’ birthday gift to Ghanaians next year.
Mr. Iddrisu also called on telecom operators to cooperate with the government on the implementation of international call verification to check fraud and raise revenue for the state.
He assured Ghanaians that call verification will not be used to interfere in their privacy, but to prevent the fraud where some telecom operators make international calls appear as local calls and therefore reduce government taxes on those calls.
Mr. Haruna welcomed airtel into the telecom market with the hope that their entry will improve access to internet and rural connectivity.
He also praised airtel for promising to assist the University of Cape Coast Medical School to build lecture theatres, a diagnostic centre and an auditorium as part of their corporate social responsibility.
Vice President John Dramani Mahama says he has faith in airtel to champion quality world class mobile service at affordable rates.
Airtel took the opportunity to announce the introduction of a new Nokia phone which will sell at GH¢40 and come with GH¢40 preloaded airtel credit.
By Samuel Dowuona