No fewer than five million subscribers of the four Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) in the country have ported from one network to the other. Prior to the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) launch, MTN Nigeria had the largest market share of 49 million subscribers, making it the market leader in the telecommunications industry.
On its heel was Globacom with over 25 million subscriber base, while Airtel Nigeria has well over 20 million, and the Etisalat Nigeria has 13 million subscribers. MNP is a service that enables subscribers to retain their mobile phone number when changing from one mobile service provider to another. The initiative was flagged off by the telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to boost quality of service.
According to findings, Globacom and Etisalat Nigeria are worst hit by the porting, owing to several reasons ranging from poor quality of service to customers not able to have accessible customer care agents to register their complaints. Daily Sun source, who didn’t want his names in print, hinted that Etisalat is also currently raging, and has written a petition to the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) over MTN’s controversial advert on “I don port o”. MTN Nigeria used ‘Saka’, Hafis Oyetoro, a former ‘Face of Etisalat Nigeria’, to pass its MNP message to its teeming customers.
“Etisalat has issues that should have been managed before now. I am sure that about a million of its subscribers will have ported. The company will not reveal it and, if the network does not go the extra mile to improve its network, it may experience further depletion. It is not only by wooing subscribers with freebies, there should be a corresponding balance in network improvement,” he declared. He also added that the Second National Operator, Globacom is also experiencing a reduction, which is close to two million because the MNP was just an opportunity for its subscribers to legally move to other networks, saying, “Before now, the network has been poor and nothing significant was done by the company to improve on its network.”
Airtel Nigeria and MTN, according to the source , are also not enjoying the best of times, as their subscriber base have also been down by a million each. However, a stakeholder in the industry, Adebowale Johnson, explained that prior to the MNP introduction, the country has been a multiple network system, where citizens are encouraged to have more than one line by virtue of the poor network being experienced by subscribers. This, he said, is already a lifestyle. He advised that stronger marketing strategies may help the operators not to lose more of its subscribers.
“Like every new thing, people may want to defect to the other network to ascertain whether the network had actually improve or not. Like a Yoruba adage, if a woman has not been married to two husbands, she not know, who is best. “This is what I want to call mass exodus. They may still come back after making their personal decisions. I may not know the exact figures but I know that network operators will be licking their wounds,” he said. Another stakeholder, Obina Obienu, noted that MTN has a wider coverage and that no operator has broken that hold. And that despite the general complaints by subscribers of poor network, most of them have refused to abandon their first line.
“Though, almost everyone has more than one line but there is every indication that the advert may deplete the other’s subscriber base if not well defended. The real business men use MTN network, while most business centres operate from the Globacom platform and Etisalat is more a youth focused network, which have also been captured by MTN,” he added. However, President, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Lanre Ajayi, hinted that it was too early to start making insinuations but that time will tell if truly people may port to MTN.
“I consider that as a creative advertisement, which is just MTN’s strategy. We don’t know other company’s strategies, may be ,we should wait before we start making comparison. But definitely, time will tell,” he assured. Buttressing Ajayi’s point, Ifeanyi Osusueke, a telecoms writer, explained that the advert itself has created different kinds of impression in the minds of people. Maintaining that a number of factors will facilitate porting and not just mere advert campaign.
The Sun.