There
is good news for Tanzania. The telecommunication industry is set for
a great leap as plans are underway to introduce mobile number
portability (MNP).Mobile number portability allows
a subscriber to shift to another network operator of their choice
with the same number by simply informing the service provider.
Elsewhere across the world, others are already doing things that way. Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) says it has taken various measures including preparing the necessary regulations to facilitate for MNP and possibly the system will be in place come next year.
Porting is expected not only to give customers more freedom but also escalate competition in the mobile communication industry. There are subscribers who are frustrated by their operators and would mind changing SIM cards but they fear losing important business contacts.
A new dawn is coming. The freedom to move from one provider to another will allow customers to punish their ineffective network providers by denying them revenue. We believe this will challenge the operators and sometimes they will have to work day and night to improve services and even reduce charges to retain their customers.
However, we would like to urge the regulator to be cautious of the possible shortcomings that may rise from the system so that it does not end up frustrating innocent customers.
The competitors may possibly sabotage the shift by blocking calls from their rivals to punish subscribers who exercise their legal freedom of porting. In fact, Tanzania is not the first country to adopt MNP. The system already exists in Morocco, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa. It is therefore time to learn from the experience of other countries:
What happened, how they handled it and ultimately how the system works until now, so the same problems will not happen here.
Elsewhere across the world, others are already doing things that way. Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) says it has taken various measures including preparing the necessary regulations to facilitate for MNP and possibly the system will be in place come next year.
Porting is expected not only to give customers more freedom but also escalate competition in the mobile communication industry. There are subscribers who are frustrated by their operators and would mind changing SIM cards but they fear losing important business contacts.
A new dawn is coming. The freedom to move from one provider to another will allow customers to punish their ineffective network providers by denying them revenue. We believe this will challenge the operators and sometimes they will have to work day and night to improve services and even reduce charges to retain their customers.
However, we would like to urge the regulator to be cautious of the possible shortcomings that may rise from the system so that it does not end up frustrating innocent customers.
The competitors may possibly sabotage the shift by blocking calls from their rivals to punish subscribers who exercise their legal freedom of porting. In fact, Tanzania is not the first country to adopt MNP. The system already exists in Morocco, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa. It is therefore time to learn from the experience of other countries:
What happened, how they handled it and ultimately how the system works until now, so the same problems will not happen here.
The two-day forum which the TCRA is hosting today and tomorrow should be a platform for operators, regulators, experts and even consumers to learn necessary things required to allow smooth implementation of the MNP.
TECH360 Magazine
