ALL ABOUT MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY

The Mobile Number Portability
service guarantees freedom for
telecoms subscribers.
In a bid to deepen competition and force
mobile phone operators to provide better
service to their customers, the Nigerian
Communications Commission, NCC, on
Monday launched the Nigerian Mobile
Number Portability service to guarantee
freedom for telecoms subscribers.
Here are 15 things you need to understand
how the service can better work for you:
1. MNP allows subscribers to migrate from
one mobile service provider to another
without changing their mobile phone
number. It empowers subscribers to
terminate their relationship with their
current network service provider if they are
dissatisfied with the quality of services
provided.
2. The service is provided by all GSM mobile
operators in Nigeria- MTN, GLOBACOM,
ETISALAT, and AIRTEL- free of charge. This,
however, does not apply to Fixed Number
Portability, FNP, or any other form of number
or service portability.
3. All mobile phone users, no matter the type
of your subscription or plan – pre‐paid/pay-
as-you-go, post‐paid/contract, simple/single
number or complex/multi number – can
take advantage of the service. Individual
numbers are ported separately as separate
transactions using the same procedure as
for a single number account except that the
numbers may share the same porting
request form.
4.Subscribers must visit the customer care
office, retail shop or outlet of their chosen
new service provider to request to port their
number. Porting cannot be done via
telephone calls, text messages, online or
other electronic means. Deferred or delayed
porting is not permitted. Only real-time
porting of numbers is allowed.
5.You must present valid identification
documents- passport, driver’s license or an
official identity card that has your picture on
it- as for proof of identity. A webcam is used
to capture your image in the absence of
proper identification documents.
6.Your new network needs to check for
credit worthiness to ensure that the request
to port a number or numbers is not
malicious.
7. To port your number, you would be asked
to complete a Port Request Form. You would
then be asked to send a text message with
the word “PORT” to a short code “3232”.
Porting is completed within 48 hours.
8. A new SIM card is issued every time you
port your number to a new service provider.
Your old SIM card ceases to be useful once
the porting process has been completed.
9. Subscribers to any network can port at
any time and as many times as they like in a
given year. However, porting to a third
operator or back to your original operator is
restricted within 90 days of a previous port.
You would need to follow the same
procedure each time you decide to port
your number or return to your previous
service provider.
10. Information on the progress of your
porting request is sent via SMS. You can
change your mind at any time before you
receive confirmation SMS is sent. Cancellation
of porting request or porting process is not
acceptable once you receive confirmation.
11. Service from the old service network
operator may be lost within an hour of
notification by SMS of completion of porting
request.
12. Your call charges may change to reflect
the tariffs of the new network operator.
13. Voicemail, SMS, MMS and ancillary
services would need to be reset with the
new service provider. Messages sent to you
prior to porting may be lost.
14. Pre‐paid subscribers cannot take
outstanding credits while switching to the
new service providers.
15. Post‐paid subscribers must settle
outstanding bills to their previous service
provider, including any early termination
fees, before the porting process can
commence. A final bill for usage up to the
time the number is ported would be sent to
the new operator.