The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has asked the inter-operator mobile number portability (MNP) working group to provide it with further justification for pushing out the effective date for implementation.
This follows a request from SA`s three largest cellular operators that ICASA postpone the effective date of MNP.
Vodacom chief communications officer Dot Field says the request for extension is a result of "the technically complex nature of mobile number portability, which requires new business processes to be designed and implemented between operators and service providers, between operators and operators, and between operators and third-parties".
In a statement, she adds the delay is "largely due to the supply of the industry central reference database solution being several months late, with the result that all operators are equally delayed in commencing with vital inter-operator testing".
Vodacom says it is in the interest of the public that the testing phase is extended to ensure all the networks are able to activate a fully functional, seamless and uncomplicated customer experience.
"All internal systems of the three operators have been upgraded to be able to handle MNP, as well as the interfaces with the service providers and also the service provider systems."
Technical problems
However, the authority has asked for further clarification as to why the operators cannot provide porting services by 18 September. The operators are expected to present a porting project plan to ICASA by today, says ICASA spokesman Jubie Matlou.
In a statement released by Cell C, carrier relations manager Mike Falconer says the operators lodged the request with the full backing of all the service providers. He says the request is due to "technical problems with connectivity to the central reference database experienced during testing".
However, some of the issues regarding the request for postponement remain unclear to ICASA, hence the request for further documentation, Matlou says.
The operators expect ICASA to rule on the matter by the end of this week.
Cell C proposes MNP be implemented at the end of next month, while MTN and Vodacom have requested MNP to be implemented at the end of November, says Cell C.
Get on with it
However, an analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity does not expect MNP to come in this year. He says the request is a delaying tactic.
Orion director Jacques du Toit, who says portability is only expected to garner 5% of cell users by the end of the year, argues that cellular companies and government should stop stalling.
"Let`s get on with it," he says, adding that any budget spent on marketing and retention schemes was now, as a result of the delay, ill timed.
He also calls on the minister of communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri to put her foot down, declare a final deadline and provide the necessary support to operators.
Virgin Mobile, which makes use of Cell C`s network to carry calls, says the delay is unacceptable for customers. Spokesman Nicholas Maweni says: "Let those who are ready be allowed to accept their [other operators`] customers."
During the press launch of SA`s newest operator, Sir Richard Branson was scathing of the country`s inability to implement MNP. "It is incredible that SA does not have mobile number portability already," he said. "Every other country changed this years ago."
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