Tough call for mobile firms as date for number migration fast nears

It has been a long wait for Kenya’s mobile phone subscribers for the much touted mobile number portability - a service that allows users to change operators without losing their preferred numbers, to come in.

The country missed the December 31 go-live date, in what operators cite unpreparedness due to logistical issues, forcing the regulator to push the new go-live date to April 1, 2011.

The industry seems to be scheming against it for various motives. Operators in the anticipation of a mass churn resulting to the loss of subscribers and market share, are hesitating to move on to the service. Insiders say most are yet to upgrade their networks to be mobile number portability compatible.

Safaricom chief executive officer Mr Bob Collymore says the service is totally unnecessary in this market as it won’t lead to any meaningful difference.

On December 17, representatives of the four operators signed an agreement that compels them to rollout the service by April 1, 2011.

Safaricom has more than 16 million mobile phone subscribers in an industry with about 21 million users.

Reports indicate that three out of the four operators in the country are yet to put their systems in order for the service.

With Mr Collymore’s stance, other operators are raising eyebrows that the operator may fail to cooperate in the smooth rollout of the service.

The other - Airtel, Orange and Yu, are hinging on the service to dent Safaricom’s market share which is estimated to be about 76 per cent, terming number portability as their last phase mobile competition tool.

“This is a power discretion in the hands of subscribers. A customer need not be captive to a particular network just because he/she wants to retain his number,” says Essar Telkom Kenya’s country manager Mr Atul Chaturvedi.

“The service will bolster the level of competition in the mobile telecommunications market, thus enabling consumers to change networks without suffering the inconvenience of having to change their subscriber numbers,” the Communications Commission of Kenya director general Mr Charles Njoroge says.

Airtel Kenya’s marketing director Mr Henry Njoroge said the service will push the power of choice to customers and give users freedom of choice.

“The biggest challenge now for operators is to improve on the quality of service,” he said.

Mr Stephen Kiptinness, head regulatory affairs Telkom Kenya, says number portability will ignite the second round of competition, as operators will fear losing subscribers to competitors and hence lead to enhancement of service delivery.

Mr Collymore says that experience has shown that in many markets where the service has been implemented it has failed to have any major impact.

He says the firm is investing Sh200 million to buy new equipment, which he reckons could have been used in other areas.

“We are doing this because CCK is pushing, but I believe that it is a totally unnecessary expense,” Mr Collymore said last year during a media briefing at the firm’s premises.

He said the new service will result in unnecessary trouble as they will be required to pay about Sh200 to port to other operators.

Users will need to get new SIM cards of the recipient operator. It will take a minimum of 48 hours for a users to port and will have to wait for up to 60 days as a cool period to change operators again.

Those who port to other networks will cease to benefit from services of the donor operator.

For instance, those who move from Safaricom will not be able to use M-Pesa and other Safaricom services. 

Mr Collymore says Kenya has a culture of users buying more than one SIM card.

“This is a multi-SIM country and almost everyone buys more than one SIM card and the number portability may not work here like in other countries.”

Some independent industry analysts say mobile number portability might not make any impact in the Kenyan market, as the service has had insignificant impact, if any, in the markets where it has been implemented.

In some cases, it has even worked in the favour of the dominant players to entrench their dominance.