Telecoms firm ready to disconnect unregistered SIMs

SEVEN weeks into its launch in Nigeria, the traffic generated by the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme has not been significant, MTN Nigeria has said.

According to MTN, contrary to the industry’s preparedness and hype that proceeded its launch on April 22 in the country, the MNP benefits are yet to be fully explored by subscribers.

Explaining the scenario around the scheme Monday, MTN Nigeria’s Corporate Service Executive, Akinwale Goodluck, said that though the telecommunications firm has welcomed quantifiable number of subscribers into its fold, customers’ apathy have been increased by some factors.

Goodluck, who listed parts of the limiting factors to include issue of multi-SIM phones and the relative ease with which a subscriber can purchase a SIM cards from sales outlets, posited that the telecommunications firm is optimistic that the scheme will still experience a boom in the country.

“We are yet to see more porting activities as expected by the industry. But the believe is that as we go forward with greater enlightenment, it will increase. We see number porting as a democratic way of subscribers choosing their service providers. For us as a network and contrary to rumour that we weren’t prepared, I can say authoritatively that we have invested a lot on out network in preparation for it take-off in Nigeria and we expect more subscribers to come into the network.”

The MTN’s Corporate Service Executive, who said the level of porting, is often an indication of market share, said across the country and other climes where it has been launched, “we have discovered that after sometime when it stabilizes, the tendency is that you will win as much as you lose. So giving a specific figure for those who have ported in or out may be difficult now. There is need to drive peoples’ enthusiasm if they must port.”

Though, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Tony Ojob,o had said 48 hours after its launch in April, about 48 subscribers switched networks, the president of the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMs), Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo told The Guardian that there has been a lull in the traffic, stressing that information at his disposal confirmed that only 10, 000 subscribers have ported.

While calling for more awareness on the scheme, Goodluck said the process was not dead on arrival, stressing that it will keep operators on their toe and ensure that they treat their customers as king, because no operator would want to lose a subscriber.

Meanwhile, in readiness for the June 30 deadline given by the NCC for the disconnection of unregistered Subscribers Identification Modules (SIMs) in the country, MTN Nigeria has called on its subscribers, who are yet to register to do so within the ambit of time left to avoid being disconnected from telecommunications services on the network.

MTN, which currently has about 52 million subscribers, said SIM registration was not to create barrier to subscribers, stressing subscribers must be aware that every other SIMs in their custody, say for their dongles; Ipad among others must equally be registered to avoid disconnection.

For confirmation of registered SIMs, Goodluck asked MTN subscribers to send REG to 746 to be able to ascertain their level of registration.

According to him, Nigeria still lacks the required database to validate some information, “but we believe that after the hamonisation and data submitted to NCC, we should have one data base. Though, the data may not be perfect on day 1, but as we progress, things will definitely take shape.”