Ahead of September date fixed by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the commencement of number portability (NP) in the country’s telecommunications space, licensed NP providers and telecommunications operators have begun negotiations on the commercial terms as well as other sundry issues in the implementations of number portability, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.
Number portability is a circuit-switch telecommunications network feature that enables end users to retain their telephone numbers when changing service providers, service types, and or locations.
Mobile number portability (MNP) when fully implemented nationwide by providers, will remove one of the most significant deterrents to changing service, provide unprecedented convenience for consumers and encourage unrestrained competition in the telecommunications industry.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the ongoing consultations between licensed NP providers and mobile telecommunications operators are centred on the fees to be charged a subscriber who is porting from one operator to the other and the sharing arrangement of such fees.
They are also negotiating on commercial guarantee which has to do with ability of the subscriber to pay his or her bill generated from the last operator; this is in the case of post paid subscribers.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations revealed that commercial guarantee is dominating the negotiation in order to avoid the situation witness in the interconnect debt that lead to the establishment of interconnect clearing house.
Other issues are the time it takes to port are also in the table for determination by the both operators and licensed NP providers. Prior to March 2008 it took a minimum of 5 working days to port a number in the UK compared to 2 hours only in USA, as low as 20 minutes in the Republic of Ireland, 3 minutes in Australia and even a matter of seconds in New Zealand.
It would be recalled that NCC last year licensed three service providers to implement number portability in the country; they are Interconnect Clearinghouse, Saab Grintek, and Telecordia. The initial license given by NCC for this job will last for five years. These firms will be responsible for the set up and implementation of Number Portability Clearing House in Nigeria, and provide mobile number portability solution administration in Nigeria within six months of receiving the license with a testing period of two months.
Observers believe that, this is the best method to increase the efficiency of the service provider by increasing the competition, thereby ensuring better services in all respect.
Operators, NP Firms Commence Negotiation on Implementation
