Number portability 'will not cause churn`

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 09 Nov 2005

The implementation of mobile number portability (MNP) will not cause churn, says attorney Lisa Thornton.

Thornton was speaking at the MNP in Africa conference organised by the Institute for International Research in Midrand yesterday.

Giving an overview of how MNP was implemented in other countries, Thornton said operators feared that once it was deployed, they would lose a great number of subscribers.

However, statistics have shown this is not the case. She said in Hong Kong, where churn increased the most when MNP was implemented (from 3.9% to 9%), the increase was only temporary. Within a three-month period, the rate had reverted to 3.9%.

Thornton said operators who not only accept MNP but embrace it stand to gain from the process.

"MNP is inevitable. Embrace it, train your staff and treat your customers with respect," she said.

Customer experience

Ensuring consumers have a good experience of MNP is a key factor to facilitating the success of MNP implementation, many speakers agreed.

Communications Users Association of SA (CUASA) spokesman Ray Webber said mobile operators must begin to pay greater attention to their current customers. "For some reason, loyal customers in this industry get the worst deals."

Webber noted that it is imperative for consumers to be able to know the cost before making calls. At present, there is lack of clarity on how MNP will impact subscriber call charges.

Also, the regulations do not prohibit the recipient operator from charging the customer for successful porting. This charge could be used as a tool to discourage porting, as was done in the UK where an operator could charge as much as lb50 for porting.

Settlement incentive

Participants also discussed the provision that a consumer`s request for porting cannot be rejected on the basis that money is still owed.

"Once the consumer has ported, how is the company going to get their money?" one delegate asked. She said that when a consumer is still using the service, the threat of suspension is incentive enough to settle the bill, whereas if the consumer has moved to another operator, no such incentive exists.

It was also pointed out that MNP provisions in no way nullify the agreement between the company and the consumer. A consumer who chooses to port before the contract expires will still be required to pay minimum charges to the donor operator.

Smooth implementation

Webber said MNP need not be an issue if a company has guaranteed savings from a least-cost routing (LCR) supplier. However, LCR suppliers are the ones who will have the most work to do, as it`s up to them to ensure savings, he noted.

Barry Gonin, chairman of the Inter-Operator MNP Group, said the three mobile operators have been working hard to ensure MNP implementation goes smoothly.

Outlining some of the fundamental decisions that have been made, Gonin said the key to the process had been to ensure operators lead strongly and that the Independent Communications Authority of SA is available to intervene should it be required.

Gonin said operators must make sure the system works the first time, as international experience has shown that once customers have been burnt, it`s difficult to attract them to a service again.