NCC Threatens To Sanction Telecom Firms For Frustrating MNP

•Eugene-Juwah, DG, NCC

•Eugene-Juwah, DG, NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC) has threatened to sanction telecoms services providers who deliberately frustrate customers willing to port their mobile phone lines to other networks through the mobile number portability, MNP Scheme.

MNP was introduced last year by the NCC to give subscribers more freedom to dump inefficient service providers.

•Eugene-Juwah, DG, NCC
•Eugene-Juwah, DG, NCC

Speaking at Telecoms Executives and Regulator’s Forum in Lagos yesterday, Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice Chairman NCC, lamented that operators have been frustrating subscribers willing to port out of their networks.

Juwah  said the practice was particularly common among high value customers who for one reason or the other, express interest to port, warning that it will not hesitate to sanction erring operators.

According to the NCC boss,  MNP was NCC’s answer to subscribers prayers who clamoured for the introduction of the scheme in the country so that they could have ample opportunity to dump inefficient operators.

“We should not be in a hurry to conclude that MNP has not succeeded. When compared with other countries where it has been introduced, it is too early for us to say it will not succeed.

“We have been watching because some operators don’t want to play to the rules. We have evidence that high value customers are not allowed to go. People should play by the rules because if they do not, it will attract sanction,” Juwah warned.

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Speaking at the forum, Maria Svesson, Director, Customer Care at Globacom,  said that since the scheme was introduced, less than 50,000 subscribers have ported in and out of the networks.

She identified constraints such as the window required for customers to be on the network and the issue of post-paid customers who might want to port out of the network without paying the debt owed the donor network.

She said MNP has not succeeded as it should have because subscribers are already used to multi-SIMMing (use of multiple subscriber identity modules (SIMs).

The Telecoms Executives and Regulator’s Forum which is open to all operators in the telecoms sector in Nigeria, is designed to create an opportunity for key industry players to interact with the regulator, with the aim of building a continual good working relationship.

It is also aimed at creating a platform for the regulator to update the industry on the regulator’s directions and plans for the industry in the coming years.

The forum also serve as a veritable platform for the regulator to receive feedback from the industry with a view to understanding the challenges the industry players have to grapple with while growing the industry.

—Henry Ojelu

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