The ultimate beneficiary of the telecoms number portability campaign is the media, which is estimated by analysts to have so far reaped over N20 billion in advertising budget, as research shows that Nigerians are unwilling to ‘port’ in spite of the hype and advert campaigns in various platforms.
Since the introduction of mobile number portability by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecom operators have engaged in a battle for the interest of subscribers as the platform provided another stage for the ‘fight’ within the sector. But as the operators struggle, the subscribers show unwillingness to ‘port.’
Although the media campaign has assisted to deepen the awareness and perhaps the understanding of the number portability, but according to a survey by BusinessDay, as recently reported, “even though most phone users know about number portability and understand how it works, 62.8 percent of the research respondents say they are not willing to change their service provider.”
The survey further shows that the “high number of people not wanting to switch service providers is because all the networks have similar poor quality of service,” suggesting that the current advert war chest deployed by service providers in a bid to win subscribers is not efficiently employed or they are not passing out the right message to their intended audience.
A recent report quoting some stakeholders and subscribers describes the porting campaign as “a failure” and put the total budget spent on the marketing activities at about N20 billion.
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Following the deep concentration by the GSM operators on encouraging consumers to switch to their respective networks, the Consumer Rights Advocacy Network of Nigeria mounted a public campaign advising the telecoms operators to focus on consumer issues, rather than wooing more subscribers.
It advised each network to play by the rules and focus on the real customer issues. These, according to it, include quality of service – network congestion and dropped calls, customer service – response to customer queries and complaints, and tariffs – lower and affordable tariffs.
Mobile number portability allows consumers of one network to switch to another network, still retaining their numbers.
In a public campaign, the body also advised consumers to base their switch over choice on good quality of service. “Say no to marketing comedy which seeks to divert attention from the real issues,” it warned.
Similarly, Steve Evans, CEO of Etisalat Nigeria, had also advised consumers, who are not getting better service, to take advantage of the new policy, saying Etisalat was pleased with the MNP and the NCC decision to flag off the policy in April, because “it presents telecommunications subscribers in Nigeria with a chance to migrate to networks that have better service as they still have to retain their numbers.
“At Etisalat, we have been advocating for MNP and we are pleased with the NCC’s announcement of a kick-off date. MNP will empower customers and force operators to improve on quality of service. With MNP, the customers will be ultimate winner.” The MNP commenced on April 22, this year.
