NCC to introduce Number portability...!!!

[obinnaD]

Folks,

This is an excerpt from THISDAY newspaper...

Is this the beginning of greater things to come.....? I can't wait to see these service providers fighting to retain customer loyalty and subscription. Finally, the customer may eventually become the king and beautiful bride.

NCC Breaks GSM Operators’ Monopoly over Numbers
By Frances Ovia-George with agency report, 08.27.2007

Soon, your Mtel number can become an MTN line—and vice versa—without you having to change your SIM card. And you may wish to do that at will.
The Nigerian Communica-tions Communication (NCC) says it has concluded plans to break the monopoly over numbers of subscribers.
The new regime, technically known as “number portability”, will allow subscribers to move from one network to the other, without necessarily changing their SIM cards or altering their numbers.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Mr Ernest Ndukwe, disclosed the new plan during the fourth anniversary of the Telecoms Consumer Parliament held in Abuja at the weekend.
Ndukwe said the number portability would help reduce the complaints of “poor quality of service on the network of certain operators”, as subscribers would have the opportunity to change operators at will.
He said that it would require only a dial to migrate from one mobile network to the other.
Some technical officials of the NCC told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the regulatory body was already fine-tuning the process, and that it might attract a “little” cost to consumers.
The officials said the number portability would push all the mobile phone operators to reduce their tariffs and improve the quality of their services since the monopoly over subscribers would be removed.
Many subscribers said they had remained on particular mobile networks because of the fear of losing their identified numbers, promising to be more adventurous as soon as the number portability was implemented.
The NCC officials said the decision to break the hold of operators over subscribers' numbers might also be connected with the rising number of inactive lines on the networks as many customers buy and drop SIM cards at will.
The subscriber base statistics of the industry collected by the NCC in January showed that more than six million lines were inactive out of a total figure of 38 million lines subscribed in the last six years.
Ndukwe also said that the regulatory body would commence the monitoring of customer care centres across the country, to check poor treatment of subscribers.
The parliament witnessed a novel improvement, in which panellists were selected from the mobile and fixed line operators, as well as consumers to discuss the degenerating quality of service and its implications for stakeholders.

[Stockmarket_Voyeur]

This is fantastic news ObinnaD!

I recall a couple of days ago on the 'Transcorp - dead and alive' post, you made mention of the need for the Nigerian telecoms sector to introduce this initiative .....and the obvious benefits to customers.
So, what does your crystal ball predict for the future of other sectors? Pray tell... any new and exciting initiatives in the pipeline?