Ghana started Mobile Number Portability (MNP) on July 7, 2011, and as at the end of July over 21,000 subscribers have successfully changed mobile providers.
MNP is a process that allows mobile phone subscribers to change providers and still keep their numbers including the codes.
MNP is seen by observers of the Ghanaian mobile industry as having the potential to do for the customer what the regulator has not succeeded in doing, that is compel providers to offer good quality services, but MNP is in its early days yet, and cannot be used as a basis for ensuring good quality service from providers.
Meanwhile, the movement of subscribers among the five providers operating in Ghana in the first 25 days is revealing. The providers are MTN, Tigo, Vodafone, Airtel all providing GSM services and Expresso, which is the only service provider on CDMA.
Information on MNP data that ghanabusinessnews.com has been able to lay hands on shows the losers and gainers as mobile subscribers change providers. Indeed, there are even movements to and from Expresso.
The figures which ghanabusinessnews.com has been able to collate from the country’s mobile industry shows that the biggest mobile provider, MTN has so far lost the biggest number of customers in the first 25 days. The figures available to ghanabusinessnews.com show that while about 7,340 subscribers have moved from other networks to join MTN, more than 12,000 of its customers have switched to other networks.
The second biggest mobile operator also has the second largest number of subscribers moving out of its network to other networks. While the data shows that more than 9,000 subscribers left Tigo Ghana, it has only about 1,000 subscribers from other networks joining it.
The biggest gainer so far, is Vodafone Ghana, which, understandably has started making some noise about getting 50% of the total number of successfully ported mobile numbers.
Head of Corporate Communications at Vodafone Ghana was cited in an article by Samuel Dowuona on ghanabusinessnews.com saying that “at least I can tell you we have almost 50 per cent of the total figure of ported numbers right now.”
And ghanabusinessnews.com can confirm that, that figure is above 11,650. Meanwhile about 3,000 customers have left the Vodafone Ghana network to join other networks.
Airtel in the first 25 days of MNP, has gained about 8,000 customers and about 2,000 have left the network for other networks, making it the second highest gainer.
The only CDMA operator, Expresso, the data collated by ghanabusinessnews.com shows has lost more than 120 customers and has gained about 43 new customers from other networks.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
This was to be expected. But great job Osofo, for this revealing article