The Nation Newspaper

Tag: MNP

  • ‘We’re committed to adding value to our subscribers’

    ‘We’re committed to adding value to our subscribers’

    MTN Nigeria has said that it is ready to implement Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in consonance with the policy of the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The NCC has recently announced plans to flag off Mobile Number Portability in the first quarter of this year.

    Speaking at an internal stakeholder forum recently, MTN CEO, Brett Goschen, said the company had been ramping up efforts to make MNP a reality for mobile phone users in Nigeria who are eager to join the country’s most expansive network.

    “We have made necessary investment in infrastructure and manpower and we are now finalising the process of making this project a reality,” said Goschen, adding: “We are confident that when the NCC is ready to blow the whistle for the kick-off of this project, we will be ready.”

    Goschen disclosed that a series of tests had been carried out on the company’s systems and infrastructure, saying that more tests will be carried out in the days ahead to ensure that the project takes off without any hitch.

    “We are excited that customers who wish to join the network with the most coverage of Nigeria will now be able to do so without worrying about losing their mobile numbers. As you know, we have made far more investment in our network than any other operator in Nigeria has done, with the result that we are today the clear leader with effective network coverage of more than 85 percent of Nigeria’s land mass and population.

    “We have nearly 100 percent coverage of most major highways in Nigeria and we are gradually moving towards the final laps of a massive, nationwide network modernisation and swap-out exercise that is bound to give the network unequalled capacity and much improved quality of service. We have no doubt in our minds that mobile phone users on other networks in Nigeria will be eager to port into MTN to avail themselves of these and other benefits they can only find on the MTN network,” he said.

    According to Goschen, apart from its massive investment in its core services, MTN remains the only operator that has created a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vehicle, MTN Foundation (MTNF), to implement life-impacting social projects across the length and breadth of Nigeria and had invested over N5 billion in such social projects which have directly and indirectly impacted on millions of lives.

    He affirmed the company’s commitment to continue to seek for ways of adding value to the lives of Nigerians both through the company’s core services and corporate social investment initiatives.

    “We have nearly 100 percent coverage of most major highways in Nigeria and we are gradually moving towards the final lap of a massive, nationwide network modernisation and swap-out exercise that is bound to give the network unequalled capacity and much-improved quality of service. We have no doubt in our minds that mobile phone users on other networks in Nigeria will be eager to port into MTN to avail themselves of these and other benefits they can only find on the MTN network,” Goschen said.

  • MNP adverts: Gainers, losers

    MNP adverts: Gainers, losers

    To comply with the NCC Mobile Number Portability (MNC) scheme, the telcos invested hugely on advertising to ensure higher equity in the portability game. But reports by NCC suggest that the money spent on advert was a waste considering dismal number of porters though media directors believe it wasn’t, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    when the Nigerian Communications Commission started the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme last year, the advertising industry was thrown into wild jubilation. The scheme provided ample opportunities for the agencies to overcome the declining marketing budget crippling the industry.

    Although the Nigeran Communications Commission (NCC) accordingly embarked on the MNP to make Nigeria telecom service subscribers enjoy the benefits of migrating from one network to another, in search of quality service, while retaining their original phone numbers, irrespective of the network the subscriber is using. This was made possible by the launch of the MNP across the networks of GSM operators, said NCC.

    Also, to outwit one another, aggressive marketing became the game changer as Telcos, which are the top advert spender more than other sectors of the economy, flaunt their wealth, tactically poaching brand ambassadors from one another, in an attempt to win the portability marketing onslaught. But with a recent figure from NCC, which was reported last week by a national newspaper (not The Nation), the multi-billion naira advertising spend may have gone down the drain, as only a dismal 80,424 subscribers have ported in the last 10 months.

    It was revealed that between May 2013 and February this year, MTN, which is the biggest telecoms company, recorded 36,819 cases of subscribers porting out of the network, followed by Airtel, Globacom and Etisalat with 22,595; 12,357; and 8,653 cases. The figures also revealed that within the period under review, MTN recorded monthly out-porting figures of 3,409; 2,719; 3,142; 3,925; 4,266; 4,453; 4,491; 3,052; 3,667; and 3,695. Also, Airtel recorded 1,190; 1,315; 1,327; 5,826; 6,520; 1,447; 1,004; 1,199; 1,429; and 1,338. For Globacom, it was 1,646; 1,122; 1,367; 1,354; 1,267; 1,204; 1,206; 973; 978; and 1,240. Etisalat had the lowest number of subscribers who ported out with 768; 646; 917; 934; 1,019; 1,001; 1,129; 626; 806 and 807 for the period. In the report, MTN accounted for about 45.78 per cent of out-porters; Airtel, 28.09 per cent; Globacom, 15.36 per cent; and Etisalat, 10.75 per cent.

    This figure, however, has underscored the number of clicks the MNP advertisement enjoyed on social media, despite the over N20 billion MNP advert budget by the Telcos.

    Checks by The Nation on Tuesday showed that MTN Saka I Don Port campaign generated 185,622 hit on Youtube; Airtel’s The Move campaign, 557,410; Glo’s Move to Greener Pastures, 557,410 while Etisalat Switch TVC also generated 43,768 hits in addition to other platforms such as traditional media used to promote their MNP offerings.

    Ten months down the line, the result is shocking with Telcos appearing to be the biggest loser in the porting game. MTN first undertook a major marketing coup by signing Hafiz Oyetoro a.k.a Saka from Etisalat to herald its campaign. Etisalat and Glo also competed in equal measure while Airtel made a statement, too.

    Giving reasons for the low figure, the Managing Director of MediaShare, Mr. Dele Odugbemi, said the low figure didn’t mean the Telcos’ advert spends were a waste. He said the introduction of incentives to prevent their subscribers from porting might be the reason MNP recorded such dismal figure.

    His words:“Conversion is low because the networks offered existing subscribers enough incentives to stay. I witnessed portability campaigns in Kenya and South Africa and the results were just about the same…you have more to lose than just your number if you change your network. So, it’s only done in extreme circumstances, such as poor service or high cost.”

    Also, the Managing Director of Starcom Media said the figure did not reflect that the MNP advert campaigns are ineffective. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with either portability creative or the media exposure. If anything, the Saka porting had more talk ability than any other ad in recent past. The issue then is quality of service by providers. May be no better option. The other problem was the cumbersome process of porting,” he noted.

    Also, Odugbemi added, “the spend isn’t a waste as porting is strategic and not tactical. What is important is to make the market aware they can port when they choose to and that job was done very well. The level of number portability awareness is very high in this market because the campaigns developed were memorable ones… switching networks isn’t as easy as it is made to sound…your recharge loading details, checking balance etc changes. So, that you are aware you can switch numbers and keep your number doesn’t mean you will do it when you consider the other factors.”

    Beyond the advert delivering increased portability, experts said infrastructure is still a major challenge which may have been responsible for the low impact of the advert on subscribers.

    A marketing communication specialist, Mr. Achang Agbamuda, said: “There is no way this campaign was going to benefit the operators because the infrastructure is still a huge challenge and for the simple fact that NCC embarked on it is face-saving initiative.”

    While the NCC is being urged to review the framework of the MNP scheme, the Head, Media and Public Relations, NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, said the commission had not seen enough reasons to commence the review of the MNP scheme.

    “That some people are saying we need to review some conditions of the MNP does not mean the commission will automatically start reviewing the terms,” he said. He added that the infrastructure on the ground would not permit the implementation of some of the proposals, adding that possible security issues were also being assessed.

    Chief Executive Officer of TPT, a PR agency, Mr. Charles Igbinidu, said: “The campaign is not totally a flop as suggested from some quarters.” He said the portability campaigns have, at least, achieved one goal, which is awareness. “I am sure many Nigerians are now aware that they can change their operators and still retain their numbers. So in the area of awareness creation, it has been a success. I also believe that MTN’s ‘I don port’ campaign is a classic. It is a very creative campaign and the media relations leveraging has also been superb.”

  • We have 50% of ported numbers, says Etisalat

    We have 50% of ported numbers, says Etisalat

    •NCC: No data released yet

    Fifty per cent of the total number of subscribers that have ported in the ongoing Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme has ported unto Etisalat Nigeria, the telco company said yesterday.

    But in a swift reaction, both the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Interconnect Clearing House Nigeria Limited, said they have not made any data available to the public in this regard.

    A statement issued by the telco stated that seven weeks into mobile MNP scheme in the country, “Etisalat (is) already taking a huge lead with almost 50 per cent of ported numbers coming its way. This revelation was made after collating the successfully ported numbers at the end of the sixth week of the launch of the scheme and shows that Etisalat had almost 50 per cent of ported numbers so far.”

    Chief Commercial Officer at Etisalat Nigeria, Wael Ammar, disclosed this without giving details of the actual figures of ported numbers. He said: “I can tell you that Etisalat Nigeria has gained almost 50 per cent of the total figure of ported numbers so far. This is a clear indication that the Nigerian consumers have made their choice based on current realities on ground.

    We set out early in our business to ensure that we developed products and services that suit the lifestyle of all our target customers. We have also ensured that we have a reliable network to accommodate existing and new customers and these efforts have been recognised by the NCC and other stakeholders in the telecoms industry”.

    Ammar cited the last quality of service indicators for mobile operators released by the NCC shortly before the launch of MNP as a clear indication that Etisalat was ready for business. The report shows that Etisalat met all the KPI targets as signed in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for Drop Call Rate (DCR), Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR), Traffic Channel Congestion (TCHcong) and Stand Alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCHcong). This he said, has even been acknowledged by the regulator, which has given it different awards.

    However, Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Tony Ojobo, said the agency has not released any figure because of ongoing subscriber identification module (SIM) cards. He said any operator that is making any claim was free to do so, adding that it was all in the spirit of competition.

  • Welcome, MNP

    Welcome, MNP

    •A good idea, but it can only be meaningful if the problems in the networks are solved

    With the launching on April 22 of the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication subscribers in the country now have the opportunity of changing from one network to another without losing their number. This has been on the drawing board for some time; as a matter of fact, its launch has had to be postponed in the past to ensure that things go well once it takes off.

    For the GSM subscribers, this is good news; the fear of losing their number if they changed network had been the beginning of wisdom for them in the past years. Even when they felt so dissatisfied with telephone service providers, they had been forced to remain stuck to them simply because they did not want to lose their numbers. That is expected to be history with MNP now operational.

    We congratulate the NCC for making the MNP a reality. Although telecoms still has some basic challenges, like calls dropping, subscribers being billed for short messages that are not delivered, connectivity challenges, and what have you, we cannot deny the fact that Nigeria has come a long way in teledensity. From about 450,000 lines in the days of the Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL), the country now boasts of over 110 million telephone lines.

    At the advent of the GSM in 2001, the country was seen as one vast virgin land for investors who might be interested in providing GSM services in the country; this has been proved right with the current number of subscribers hooked to one network or the other.

    In spite of the challenges, it must be acknowledged that there have been improvements in the telecoms sector; some forced by competition and others by happenstances. For example, when GSM services began in the country, lines went for as high as N30,000 each, today, they are literally free. Also then, subscribers paid as much as N50 per minute for calls; this has drastically reduced. There was also the challenge of per second billing which Nigerians craved for at a time but never came because the operators said then that it was impossible. However, this too became history when a few years after, another service provider came and made that its cutting edge.

    Without doubt, we have come a long way in telecoms, the MNP only being the latest in the course of the journey. It is part of the ways of ensuring that subscribers get value for their money. For now, we cannot boast of that in view of the hiccups in the system, some of which we have mentioned. But it would be unfair to close our eyes to some of the challenges facing the operators. Apart from the problem of electricity that has forced them to install at least two high capacity generators wherever they have their masts, which means a lot of money being spent on fuel to power them and the huge cost of maintenance, the challenge has become compounded with the attacks on masts in some parts of the country. Even in areas where there is relative calm, the service providers operate at the mercy of ‘area boys’ and other miscreants who attack their facilities if the companies refuse to offer money to ‘protect’ such facilities.

    All said, there is still much room for improvement. MNP is good, but it should not be seen as any magic wand or cure-all panacea for the challenges in the sector. Many people change their network because the systems are congested. This problem would remain unless the systems are expanded; it is immaterial if subscribers can port or not. What we have to work on now is ensuring that we do not start to experience another round of technical hitches occasioned by MNP.

     

  • We’re set for MNP, says Airtel chief

    AIRTEL Nigeria is ready to implement the Mobile Number Portability (MNP), its Managing Director/Chief Exeutive Officer Segun Ogunsanya has said.

    Ogunsanya, said with Airtel’s robust and expanded 3.75G network coverage, many subscribers who had waited so long to join the “best friends network” could exploit the window offered by the MNP to realise their dreams.

    He said Airtel was the first telecoms operator in the country to call for the implementation of MNP during its brand launch on November, 19, 2010 at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

    “I am happy to inform you that we have done all our homework and we are fully ready for the MNP go-live date. Airtel has transformed its network, investing over $1.5billion to improve network efficiency and quality.

    ‘’Airtel was the first telecoms operator to complete 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) trial in Nigeria and also the first service provider to roll out HD (High Definition) voice in the country,” he said.

    He added that the telco has altered the nation’s telecoms landscape with its tariff and value offerings with the launch of several groundbreaking tariff and service platforms, including 2Good Offers, MAMO (My Airtel My Offer) and a bouquet of data offerings, pointing out that with such an impressive record, he had no doubt that Airtel was the network of choice to Nigerians.

    Director, Regulatory Affairs and Special Projects of the firm, Osondu Nwokoro, who spoke on how the MNP works, he said Airtel had a history of being customer-centric as evident in the numerous customer service awards it had won.

     

     

     

  • Bumpy road to number portability

    Bumpy road to number portability

    Again, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has postponed the take-off date of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in the country. This latest development is coming after many unsuccessful attempts at jumpstarting the process. Bukola Afolabi examines the issues involved and provides insight into what mobile subscribers should expect when MNP comes on stream

    Looking Back

    The journey has been long and arduous for telephone users in Nigeria. Once upon a time, there was a certain NITEL. The lines were fixed, and you were billed at the end of every month. On a regular basis, you get clobbered with a crazy bill made up mostly of local calls you never made. And if you were unlucky, your line could be tapped and diverted for commercial international call operation by criminal elements and you had to either pay the bill or give up the line.

    There was later some reprieve for people who were very rich. Some private operators entered the scene to provide service using mainly Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The reach was limited, in most cases restricted to Lagos and a few other major cities. The price was an arm and a leg.

    And then came ‘Hurricane GSM’, powered by MTN and Econet Wireless at the initial stage, and the situation changed rapidly for the better. State-owned Mtel complemented the big operators before running out of steam, but stronger players, Globacom and Etisalat, were later to join the fray. Expansion was rapid, and network growth was unprecedented. All you had to do was just purchase a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card from the network operators and get yourself a mobile phone. Suddenly, artisans could own mobile phones. ‘Overnight’ Nigeria became a poster child for explosive telecom growth on the African continent; all within a decade.

    Here and Now

    Twelve years on, the success story has continued. The sector has reached a level of development that many technology pundits did not think it could attain in three decades. But owing to the courage, diligence and industry of such operators as MTN who saw possibilities where others saw intimidating risks, Nigeria is a telecom success story today.

    However, a particular challenge has persisted through the years – poor quality of service. Though there are multiple network operators, a mobile user is locked in. In a bid to break out, he must purchase multiple mobile phones for all the various networks he wants to use. That led to the culture of multiple phone ownership, and what operators call multi-simming, which simply refers to switching two or more SIMs belonging to different operators in a phone.

    Those who insist on going for alternatives face switching costs associated with informing people about changing their number, printing new business cards and missing valuable calls from people who do not have the new number. Premium subscribers are particularly reluctant to throw away their numbers, as they are the segment that can suffer the most should they lose the numbers that their contacts know them with.

    However, from where we currently stand, the dayspring is risen. Freedom looms with mobile number portability.

    The game changer

    Mobile number portability is a system that allows consumers to change mobile network service provider without changing their mobile phone number. This game-changing feature which affords consumers the chance of getting service from any operator they want, not only increases competition level in mobile communication market but also increases consumer choice and welfare.

    For instance, a customer who has used a particular network for years and relocates to another area where his operator does not have coverage will now just seamlessly port into a new network with strong coverage in his new environment without having to lose his number.

    MNP in history

    The world’s first country to introduce MNP was Singapore in 1997, followed by the

    UK, Hong Kong and the Netherlands in 1999. Between 2000 and 2004, a number of other countries in Europe: Spain, Switzerland Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, France, Finland, Luxembourg, Greece (planned), Austria and the USA had joined the train. The African experience reveals that South Africa in 2006 commenced the MNP, while Kenya officially launched its own in April, 2011. Interestingly, our West African neighbours, Ghana, launched MNP on July 7, 2011 to become the third country in Africa to do so.

    Nigeria’s telecommunications regulatory body, the National Communications Commission, NCC, had fixed June 2012 for MNP implementation, but shifted the date on the grounds that it needed time to conclude the harmonisation of subscribers’ data collected during the SIM card registration exercise.

    According to the Commission’s Executive Vice Chairman, Eugene Juwah, “we deliberately delayed Mobile Number Portability because we don’t want to inject Number Portability in a state of anonymity of SIM cards; in a state of confusion and chaos of data registration.” He also said that it was necessary to know the identity of subscribers who are ‘porting’ their numbers at different times from one network to another.

    Following the development and approval of the MNP framework, the commission began plans to develop the regulatory, legal and technical framework for the implementation of MNP in Nigeria.

    Along these lines, a contract for the establishment of a Clearing House, a key component of the project, was awarded. A consortium of three firms won the bid to operate it – Interconnect Clearing House Nigeria (ICN), Telecordia (now part of Ericsson) and Saab Grintek pty Technologies. The regulatory body later stated that the eventual commencement would be in the first quarter of 2013, following the testing process which started in November last year.

    Freedom to Choose

    An essential element in the development of mobile markets is the ability of consumers to choose between competing providers – and to switch between providers quickly and easily. Subscribers place a value on their phone numbers, especially when they have used that number for an extended period of time. This is a huge cost to the user, who has to put up with poor Quality of Service (QoS) and maybe even unfriendly call tariffs.

    However, the existence of number portability enables such customers to make a simple change to a network operator of their choice with little or no costs attached. Consumers would further benefit from increased flexibility once they embrace portability. This flexibility would help foster competition among service providers because they know that a consumer could switch at any time. Also the MNP will increase pressure on the service providers to compete on price, quality, and customer service.

    Under the current lock-in model, loyalty is enforced, not earned. But MNP is a win-win. A recent study indicated that customer satisfaction is a strong determinant of customers’ propensity to switch, which implies that service providers are better off in the long run if they improve customer satisfaction in an attempt to minimise customers’ intention to switch providers.

    There will be greater choice for consumers and enhanced offerings from operators. There is more innovation as operators try to woo customers to come in and stay in. In the past, service providers have been accused of running an oligopolistic market, or a cartel. Industry experts claim that they use their technology to restrict choice and increase their influence at the market place. The result is that consumers, especially high value ones, who are not very happy with the service they are getting are unable to choose an alternative.

    However, mobile number portability will force service providers to seriously think about innovation, and develop products that address numerous unmet consumer needs as opposed to drawing the battle lines based on pricing alone.

    MNP is, however, no silver bullet

    Experts have, however, variously warned that MNP is no silver bullet for sub-optimal quality of service in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector. The umbrella body for telecom operators in Nigeria has maintained that unless the major causes of poor quality of service are tackled by industry stakeholders, MNP would even compound the problem, rather than solve it.

    The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engineer Gbenga Adebayo, in a recent interview opined that the main cause of quality of service challenge is inadequate capacity industry-wide.

    According to Adebayo, all the operators have yet to build enough capacity to adequately take care of the surging demand for service nationwide. In spite of that, he said, operators are facing increasing challenges in their bid to expand their capacity to take care of the demand for telecom service in Nigeria.

    He argued that until the operators enjoy the cooperation of all stakeholders in their bid to build capacity across the nation, no single operator can claim higher ground for long in terms of acceptable quality of service. He noted that the challenges imposed by the operating environment are common to all the operators and are therefore restricting the advancement of the industry.

    “I can’t assure you that it (number portability) will improve QoS and I will tell you why. If one network has glitches or goes down for whatever reason, I don’t have any guarantee that the other networks will have enough headroom to accommodate the capacity of the network that has gone down,” said Adebayo. “It is like having traffic problem on the third mainland bridge. It will definitely impact other smaller road networks. If the biggest player, for instance, experiences some glitches and subscribers migrate to the smaller players, the smaller players will not have enough head-room. It is simple logic,” he said.

    Going Forward

    It would be necessary for all stakeholders to work together to combat the challenges facing all the operators in their bid to provide acceptable quality of service in the country. It is when these challenges have been surmounted that MNP can truly translate into freedom of choice for telephone users in Nigeria. Clearly for the operators, the MNP would separate the men from the boys. As for the consumer, it is the emancipation of the SIM.