Over 800,000 mobilenumber ports completedin two years

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The National Communication Authority (NCA) has reported that within the first two year of Mobile Number Portability in Ghana, 817,202 successfully completed ports were recorded, representing about 3% of the estimated 27million active mobile line in the country. Out of the figure, 447,095 were complete in the second year alone, ending July 7, 2013; this represents an increase of 21% over that of the first year counting from
the July 7, 2011 launch date.
Meanwhile, the number of successfully completed ports increased to over 915,000 by the close of August this year, and is expected to reach one million sometime in October. MNP is a permanent system which allows mobile telephony customers to move from one service provider to another whilst retaining their old mobile number.
Ghana’s success with the MNP can be largely attributed to the initial advance preparations and rigorous testing and the collaboration amongst all the key stakeholders, comprising NCA, Porting Access Ghana (the central MNP service provider), and the mobile network operators.
Current figures show that the net impact on each operator ranges from a positive of 5% to a negative
of 2% of their respective subscriberbases, with new ports typically running between 25,000 and
50,000 per month. Of key mention is the porting speed which has increased considerably and has undoubtedly contributed to MNP’s success in Ghana.
Following agreed process performance goals between the mobile network operators and NCA, average porting times dropped from 5 hours, 21 minutes in July, 2011, to 5 minutes, 25 seconds in June, 2013. A customer can therefore be active on his new network with his old  number while still present at the shop or with the agent for his new network.
The agreed performance goals which made this possible later became mandatory MNP Quality of Service (QoS) standards.
According to the NCA, statistics indicate that most customers who have ported are  satisfied with their decision to do so, as 75% of them remain active on the networks to which they have ported their
numbers.
The others have since moved on to a third or fourth network, or gone back to their very original network.
NCA said in its estimation, MNP has achieved its purpose as it has removed obstacles for any mobile telephony customer who wished to change networks but was reluctant to do so due to the inconvenience of changing his/her number.
Ghana is the unchallenged leader in MNP performance in Africa, and ranks among the best implementations in the world.
NCA performs in a dual role of mentor to the MNP process, analyzing and promoting performance improvements, and as regulator when it becomes necessary.
NCA said it appreciates the effort and resources given by the telcos and Porting
Access Ghana to the successful MNP implementation in the country.
“We look forward to the continued contribution of MNP to mobile telephony consumer empowerment,” the regulator said.