Monday, May 02, 2005

Mobile number portability


Just came across this editorial in today's DAWN issue: "Mobile number portability: MOBILE phone users will find some respite thanks to the proposed introduction of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) for which Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has constituted a supervisory board that plans to implement the scheme by January 2006. A central database administration which will house a database of mobile subscriber number references is being developed to implement this portability facility. MNP, which allows mobile phone users to switch mobile phone operators but retain their existing number, is available in many countries of the world but its proposed arrival in Pakistan was being strongly resisted by two of the largest mobile operators, perhaps because they feared a loss of the market share. However, PTA was not convinced by their arguments and has gone ahead and decided that the facility will be made available next year which it believes will boost fair competition among all mobile phone operators.This decision is one that will benefit consumers who are already frustrated by the poor service current mobile phone operators are providing. Despite certain mobile phone companies being threatened with severe legal action, not to mention heavy fines, if their quality is not improved, consumers periodically face frequent problems in connectivity, poor network services and other customer-related issues. Many who complain of such problems are hesitant to switch over to another company because they do not want to switch their number, a concern that will no longer apply once MNP comes into force. This will also force mobile phone companies to ensure better service to their customers or face losing their subscribers to better companies. Either way, it seems the customer is in a win-win situation — provided PTA is able to ensure that the implementation of MNP goes through smoothly.
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4 comments:

Salman Siddiqui said...

well 2 start with, let's hope it gets implemented in the mobile phone sector first at least...:-).

Asim said...

AOA!
any idea that how they are going to implement it. Means are we going to carry only the numbers only or as well the code of the company?
means if I have number xxxx-yyyyy and when i switch to new company it will remain the same or is it going to be zzzz-yyyyy ?

Anonymous said...

Wa-Alaikum Asslaam,
Asim, Suppose you are using any number like 0300-xxxxxxx or 0321,0345 etc and you want to change the service, but don't want to change the prefix. you number would be the same. like i have number 0300-4000100 and i am going to chnage it with telenor or warid my number would be the same.


Regards,

Asif

Anonymous said...

Yes you would keep the exact same number with the same prefix and still could be using any network

this would create a bit of confusion for those of your callers who are vary of inter network costs but then they can alwasy ask, which network you are on.

in the UK it takes 1-2 weeks for getting your no ported , but in australia it takes only 30 minutes to 1 week, lets see how efficient our system would be.

faaiz zaheer