10,000 users seek change of mobile operator: MNP facility
By Aamir Shafaat Khan
KARACHI, April 13: An estimated 10,000 port-in and port-out requests have been lodged all over the country by cellphone users of all the five operators since the commercial launch of the mobile number portability (MNP) from March 26.
Sources in cellphone industry said that it was very difficult to determine which company has been gaining or losing the customers since the launch as Pakistan MNP Database (Guarantee) Limited (PMD), which looks after the implementation of the MNP, has got the daily overall data.
However, executives in the cellphone companies are not ready to share the actual figures by simply asking that only PMD can tell the real data.
Chief Executive Officer PMD Dr Arshad Siddiqui told Dawn on Friday that the company may be able to provide port-in and port-out data of mobile phone operators on monthly basis. The first data will hopefully be revealed on April 26.
However, he said that he could not give any rough estimates right now. He added that the cellphone companies could provide the data as they have a gateway. Without giving any rough estimate of the data, he claimed that the consumers’ response has been normal and so far there have been no technical problems.
Siddiqui said that lack of awareness among consumers about the MNP facility could be blamed for the lukewarm response otherwise it would have been much higher.
An official in Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that the PMD could give the data on monthly basis as it has all the technical facilities. PTA will also get the figures from PMD.
President and CEO, Ufone Mubashir Naqvi said that he did not have the exact number of port-in and port-out of Ufone but said that he could say with authority that “the company has not been the loser since the launch.”
He linked the lukewarm response to MNP to the lack of awareness among the consumers, who are yet to understand the concept of the MNP. Besides, the media campaign lacks clarity about the facility to lure consumers.
He termed the market reports as baseless that Ufone is losing its market share rapidly after loss of Rs3 billion in one year due to mismanagement.
He said the company while pursuing its expansion policy has added 33 new cities to its existing network in just record one day. By the end of 2007 Ufone will be covering more than 2,500 towns, villages and all major highways under its current $550 million network expansion contract signed with a Chinese telecom firm Huawei.
It will enhance capacity of cell -phone users to 20 million from 10-11 million at present.
Meanwhile, another official in the Ufone said that the company has been receiving 300 port-in requests per day for the last two weeks as against 60-70 port-out calls.
Chief Executive Officer Mobilink Zouhair Khaliq responding in a grim mood said, “MNP is not a big issue so it is better to talk about something else. He said he has other issues to deal with and not only the MNP facility.
Officials in Warid Telecom and Telenor Pakistan excused for giving the last 15 days data of port-in and port-out requests, saying the PMD have all the details.
MNP offers mobile customers the ability to move from their current network operator to another operator still keeping their complete mobile number, including the code intact.
