What is Mobile Network Portability (MNP)?
Mobile Number Portability allows mobile telephone users to
migrate from one service provider to another and still retain their telephone numbers.
It provides a platform whereby a subscriber on any of the existing GSM and some of
the CDMA networks can switch from one service provider to another and still
retain their phone numbers. For instance, with your current MTN line you can decide to migrate to ETISALAT or vice-versa, and still retain your "stable and popular" phone number.
How MNP Works
For instance, subscriber A whose original service provider is
network P, might wish to change or port to network Q. This can be achieved by subscriber
A sending a porting request to network Q, network Q sees the request coming
from a user on network P and then contacts them accordingly to setup the process of
exchange and transference of subscriber details, this is the most common and it is known as "Recipient-led" porting.
Once a number is ported, calls and messages (sms & mms) destined for that number are routed through the use of a central database (CDB) of ported numbers. Every network operator makes a copy of the CDB and queries it to find out which network to send a call to, this is also known as All Call Querry (ACQ).
Once a number is ported, calls and messages (sms & mms) destined for that number are routed through the use of a central database (CDB) of ported numbers. Every network operator makes a copy of the CDB and queries it to find out which network to send a call to, this is also known as All Call Querry (ACQ).
Consumer Benefits of
MNP
Network users would no longer be landlocked in one network operator's world even when quality services are not enjoyed.
Subscribers should therefore anticipate an era of freedom and even “petting” by their respective
telecom operators, as they would be looking for ways to ensure their customers
do not decamp to their competitor operators, maybe as a result of perceived
poor Quality of Service (QoS) or the like. This “petting” is going to come in the form of
freebies like free airtime, free internet data bundles and so on.
MNP has already been implemented in most countries of the world including India and Ghana.
We are already waiting for it in Nigeria. MTN, Globacom, Airtel, Etisalat, ... buckle up!
ReplyDeleteSure... they should buckle up, ready to service porting requests that would be flowing from left to right! :)
ReplyDelete