Mobile number portability cannot cause deterioration in quality of service --- NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Thursday in Abuja said Mobile Number Portability (MNP) would not cause a deterioration in the quality of service in the country.
MNP is an avenue that allows a subscriber to move or port from one network to anther while retaining the original number.

Mr Tony Ojobo, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that no deterioration would be experienced because the commission had put in place a measure to check this.
``The commission has planned to carry out a test on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of telecoms operators at the end of May to measure their performances,’’ he said.
Ojobo explained that the test would enable the commission to know if the service operators were working in accordance with the key performance indicators.
He said that appropriate measures would be taken if at the end of the test the commission discovered any operator lacking in meeting up with KPIs.
``I don’t think that it is the MNP that will worsen the issue of quality of service. We are going to carry out a test of all the networks to see the kind of measures we are going to get on KPIs.
``Of recent, the commission lifted a ban on promos. So, we are going to see whether the promos are actually having impact on the networks.
``It is the measurement that will determine their performance.
``We have been getting reports on the issue of quality of service and at the end of the month the commission is going to take a measurement of all the service providers,’’ Ojobo said.
On SIM registration, Ojobo said that the total figure of registered SIM cards of all networks would not be released until the end of the exercise.
He said the final figure in the SIM cards registration would only be given after June 30.
``Because registration is ongoing, I can’t give a figure. But, at the end of the exercise when all the networks had forwarded their data on registered SIM cards, we will by then have an idea of what the total figure is,’’ Ojobo said.
NAN recalls that the commission recently said SIM cards registration would be concluded on June 30.
It had said all unregistered SIM cards would be banned from the telecoms networks from June 30.
Ojobo said that closure of registration of SIM cards would have taken place since April, but the service operators had requested for more time to sensitise their subscribers.
He said that the extension of the registration was to give opportunity to those who were yet to register.
``They still have between now and June 29 to register,’’ the NCC official said. (NAN)