Emerging report has disclosed that the number of subscribers who ported from their mobile network operators through the mobile number portability platform has increased by 30 per cent.
A data from the Nigerian Communications Commission website showed a total number of 2389 subscribers ported between December 2021 and August 2022. This was against 1,828 persons recorded in December last year.
The above figures represent a marginal increase of 561, equivalent to a 30 per cent increase.
MTN gained 1,617 customers from other networks in the month, while Airtel attracted 387. The 9mobile also received 279 customers from other networks, while Globacom attracted 106 customers through porting in the month under review.
Recall that the number of subscribers that changed their GSM operator rose by 100 per cent to 13,985 in the first quarter of 2022, according to data on the NCC’s portal.
According to the data, no subscriber left their GSM operator In Q1, 2021. This data is tracked under the outward porting category of NCC’s portal.
The commission defines outward porting as “the number of numbers ported to another service provider’s network from a service provider’s own network.”
Within the time under review, 10,023 subscribers left Airtel, 2,930 left 9mobile, 582 left MTN, and 450 left Glo.
In December 2020, the NCC directed telecommunication companies to suspend sales, registration, and activation of new SIM cards, impacting porting activities as subscribers could not switch their service providers.
Subscribers change their network providers while retaining their numbers because of poor service quality offerings by their original service providers.
The NCC launched this service, known as mobile number portability, in April 2013. It said, “In furtherance of its efforts to promote competition, improve quality of service and ensure that consumers continue to enjoy a good experience on the mobile networks, the NCC launched mobile number portability service for GSM subscribers in April 2013.”