The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)has said for the month of May 2020, telecommunications service providers have carried out 23,505 Mobile Number Portability activities.
This is contained in the Incoming and Outgoing Porting Activities of Mobile Network Operators report from the regulator’s website.
Launched on April 22, 2013 by NCC, data obtained by Business Remarks shows that subscribers can change their service providers under the Mobile Number Portability (MNP).
In technical parlance, MNP is a process that allows subscribers to migrate from one network to another, in search of quality service, while still retaining their original phone numbers, irrespective of the network the subscriber chooses to migrate to.
NCC had given subscribers the opportunity to port from one network to another if they were not satisfied with the quality of service offered by their network operators.
In its report, the commission noted that out of the 23,505 porting activities in May, 11,868 were “Incoming Porting Activities”, while 11,637 were “Outgoing Porting Activities”.
Business Remarks gathered that this shows an increase of 10,260 porting activities as against 13,245 recorded for the month of April 2020.
Prior to this, industry experts attributed the development to poor service quality, however, said most subscribers equally ported to other networks because they wanted to enjoy cheaper call and data rates on various promos offered by network operators.
Further breakdown for the period under review, May 2020 revealed that 5,564 subscribers moved from Airtel Network to others, showing an increase of 2,449 subscribers as against 3,115 that left the service provider in April.
Also, 3,287 subscribers moved from Globacom Nigeria, which revealed an increase of 1,700 customers that left the network as against 1,587 that left in April.
On its part, 9mobile recorded 1,476 subscribers deserting its network for others in May as against 449 recorded for April 2020.
In the same vein, 1,310 subscribers left MTN networks in May 2020 as against 946 subscribers recorded for April, year 2020.
The regulatory body said on the incoming table, 9mobile welcomed 6,304 subscribers in May, an increase of 2,475 subscribers as against 3,829 subscribers gained in April 2020.
3,524 subscribers moved from other networks to Airtel Nigeria during the period under review, showing an increase of 1,278 subscribers as against 2,246 subscribers gotten in the month of April.
During the period under review, MTN Nigeria gained 1,756 subscribers, an increase of 771 subscribers as against 985 inward porting recorded for April 2020.
In addition, Globacom recorded 284 subscribers porting to its network in May 2020, an increase of 196 subscribers as against 88 subscribers gained in April, the year 2020.