Mobile Number Portability – Ghana must learn from Kenya

Ghana is gearing up for the launch of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) on July 1, 2011 and the MNP Consultant to the National Communication Authority (NCA) Bob Palitz says “we are on track for the July launch.”

Ghana MNP best in the world

As a show of confidence in what the MNP process would be like in Ghana, Mr. Palitz also said he believes the stakeholders comprising of the NCA, the telecom operators and Porting Access Ghana (PXS) have designed what promises to be the best MNP process in the world today.

Early this month, May 4, 2011, during an ongoing pre-testing of the system, the first live end to end porting between operators was done within a matter of 10 to 15 minutes out of a possible 24 hours.

PXS Ghana boss, Saqib Nazir said that may not mean the system is absolutely full proof, but it is an indication of the commitment of all six operators to MNP.

Knowing about MNP

One would have expected that with that level of commitment, operators would also have ensured that by now majority of mobile phone users in Ghana know about MNP, but the operators claim their individual studies show that majority of subscribers have no clue.

But Bob Palitz is of the view that everything that needs to be told the public about MNP can be done in one month so there is no need rushing into an MNP campaign right now.

For those who still do not know what MNP is, it is a system that allows mobile phone users to move from network to network and maintain their original mobile number including the network prefix.

Supposing the only telecom operators in Ghana are MTN and Airtel, what MNP means is that if you have an MTN number 0244123654, you can move that to Airtel and still maintain 0244123654.  You do not have to change the 024 to 026.

In the same way if you use an Airtel number 0266123654, you can take it to MTN and still maintain the 0266123654; you do not have to change the 026 to 024.

When the time comes and you want to port your number, all you need to do is to go to the network you want to port to and inform them that you want to port your number unto their network and they will take it from there and get you hooked on within 24 hours at no cost to you. No cost because the networks have promised to absorb the cost involved.

It sounds very simple on paper, but the experiences of some countries show that in practice MNP is quite complex and can also be very frustrating for operators and sometimes for customers.

Lessons from Kenya

Kenya comes in handy for some lessons on MNP for Ghana because the same company that would hold the central database of all ported numbers and manage the whole process in Ghana, is the same one doing the job in Kenya; the company is Dutch-owned Porting Access BV (PXS).

In Ghana, PXS is partnering with CIS Ghana to form Porting Access Ghana (PAG) to do the clearing house job.

MNP took off in Kenya April 1, 2011 after two postponements; July 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010. This was after discussions have started in 2004, suspended until 2007 and suspended again until 2009 before the first deadline was set.

Reports say that in Kenya, the regulator, Communications Commission of Kenya largely sat by and expected the players to sort themselves out on MNP, and that is a major reason why MNP saw several postponements and now suffers lots of draw backs.

Unconfirmed reports from the CCK said within the first two weeks of the take-off, 8,000 mobile phone users sent requests to port their numbers, indicating that the 100,000 a year porting target that PXS set for Kenya is looking possible.

But within the same two weeks of 8,000 porting requests, very grave conflicts between two operators and the clearing house, PXS also reared their heads.

Airtel Kenya and PXS have accused Safaricom of blocking calls to its network from customers who had switched from Safaricom to Airtel, while Safaricom also accuses Airtel of providing misinformation to customers wishing to switch from Airtel to another network.

Safaricom, which is jointly owned by Vodafone and the government of Kenya, also accused Airtel and Porting Access of collaborating to the benefit of Airtel over Safaricom.
This is just two weeks into MNP launch and the integrity of the clearing house (PXS) is already in question, while operators also stand accused of sabotaging the system.

In fact Safaricom stated in a press release that they thought PXS has lost the moral and legal legitimacy as a neutral and honest broker in the porting process. They have therefore initiated legal action against PXS and its spokesperson for defamation and tort of economic sabotage and appealed to the Kenyan industry regulator, CCK to review the role of PXS.

Concern about PXS

Ghanaians should be concerned because this is the same company in Ghana; moreover some operators in Ghana allegedly did everything they could over the years to delay and possibly prevent MNP until the Minister of Communication, Haruna Iddrisu stood his grounds and set the deadline.

At least, in Ghana, the regulator, NCA has been at the head of the process from day one through and through. But there is need for the NCA to be more vigilant on the activities of the clearing house, and ensure that no one operator takes advantage of their strength in the market to influence the clearing house operators.

The NCA should also find ways to deal decisively and expeditiously with any signs of an operator blocking calls from numbers that ported from their network, otherwise the whole system would lose its purpose of empowering the customer with choice, and still leave customers at the whims and caprices of the operators.

Porting Access is doing 48 hours porting time in Kenya but has promised a maximum of 24 hours in Ghana. This is something that the NCA is very happy about, but there is need to also ensure that it is not just lip service or a matter of building castles in the air.

Indeed, the first test run was within 10 to 15 minutes, but in the real world, things can be a whole lot different, and even the PXS Ghana boss agrees that actual implementation may throw up unforeseen challenges.

Postponements in Kenya

The postponements in Kenya could also be the reason some operators still doubt whether MNP can happen on July 1, 2011 in Ghana; once again the NCA must ensure that nothing stops the July 1, 2011 launch, but also that all the loose ends are neatly tied before that date.

Again in Kenya, one week to MNP, operators and consumers expressed doubts about the possibility of the launch and viability of the whole system respectively.

At that time only two (Safaricom and Yu) out of four operators had conducted interoperability tests for porting service. Regulator CCK allowed only two weeks for operators to do the tests, but some operators insisted that they need at least three months to do the interoperability test and that has forced the regulator to give a grace period of up to July 2011 for all operators to ensure that their networks supported MNP.

In Ghana, NCA and its partners have assured the public that all six operators are participating in the pre-launch interoperability tests, which took off in March, four months clear of the launch, so no operator can complain.

PXS has established two redundant database systems; and all manual tests between those and operator-networks were completed in March; operators then connected their virtual private networks (VPNs) to PXS’s central database system in April and the first live porting was done early this month. The NCA says everything now points to an incident-free launch on July 1, 2011.

MNP is about stress-free consumer experience and so if that is not guaranteed, consumers are likely to be largely indifferent to the whole idea of porting.

Porting in Ghana within 24 hours

One of the issues operators raised in Kenya was about consumers surrendering their SIM cards for two working days during porting and waiting for a new SIM card from the new service provider; within those two days the consumer is not able to make and take calls, or to send and receive SMS.

In Ghana it is just 24 hours, but 24 hours could be long or short depending on whether that number is a busy line or not. There are also questions as to whether weekends and holidays would be counted as part of the 24-hour period.

Desired effects of MNP

One familiar feature in Kenya was operators’ comments about MNP. Safaricom Boss was quoted in media reports as saying MNP was not going to have the desired effect some operators are yearning for and that customers were better off owning more than one SIM card instead of porting.

Some operators in Ghana have made similar comments but as MNP did happen in Kenya, it will happen in Ghana in spite of the operator pessimism.

Kenyan subscribers also saw 50 per cent reduction in call tariffs in August last year and industry analysts in that country have predicted further reductions; which is very similar to predictions by industry experts in Ghana that even subscribers who do not port their numbers would still benefit from MNP in the form of reduced tariff, better quality services, as well as great value offers and promotions.

Porting Access Ghana have said it does not expect anything different for Ghana but the truth is that no one knows exactly what would happen. But Bob Palitz said porting requests would rise sharply initially, then plateau for a while and begin to rise gradually with increases in subscriber numbers, which is what had pertained in other countries.

The braggarts

But the talk about MNP would not finish without some bragging, and there are braggarts everywhere, including Kenya where Safaricom boss boasted that they are not afraid of MNP because records show they are registering 10,000 customers everyday so 100,000 numbers porting across four networks in a whole year means on the average each network would lose 25,000 customers every year (all things being equal). Comparing that with 10,000 customers coming onboard Safaricom everyday means in a year they get 3,650,000 new customers, so like we saying in Ghana “no shaking”.

The braggarts are here in Ghana too; some of the telecom operators are actually behaving as if they would never lose even a single customer when MNP comes onboard, but that can only be in their dreams.

But one good lesson the operators in Ghana can learn from Safaricom in Kenya is that they were transparent enough to say they invested $10 million in MNP, but the telecom operators in Ghana only say “we have invested substantially into MNP” and no amount of pushing makes them say the exact amount; they always hide behind a cliché called “because of competition.”

NCA must be vigilant

What is important, however, is for the regulator, NCA to be extra vigilant through and through to ensure that no one operator, including and particularly the clearing house operator, are doing any shady deals and sabotaging subscribers and some operators in favour of others. The NCA’s own reputation had come into question in the past on the issue of MNP, so this new NCA has to do everything to shed off that negative reputation. So far they are doing great, but MNP creates even a greater opportunity for NCA to further show to Ghanaians that the subscriber’s interest is paramount in all their consideration.

Bob Palitz says an NCA staff has been trained to man a desk at PXS and oversee the porting process and ensure all players and playing fairly. I am confident that with people like Bob on the NCA team, the NCA would do good by the public, at least as far as MNP is concerned.

Lessons for Ghanaian media

There are also lessons for the Ghanaian media to learn from the Kenyan example – the media in Kenya largely helped certain players to damn and carry misinformation about MNP without verifying some of the information they published. But in Ghana, the NCA has shown it sees the media as a major partner in the whole process and therefore expects the media to work closely with the NCA to ensure that the public is given the right and truthful information about MNP.

The media needs to be weary of wild claims that operators might be making in their marketing messages about MNP; the media also needs to understand that government officials are not experts on MNP so they could get it wrong sometimes. Journalists have the responsibility to educate themselves and to look at the right places for information on MNP else the media would become a forum for unnecessary battles between stakeholders in the whole process, and that may be good for those who have some interest in sabotaging MNP, but not good for public interest.
By: Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona