By Emmanuel Elebeke

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, says about 197, 000 subscribers have so far ported from one network to another since the introduction of the mobile number portability in the country.

The Commission disclosed this during the prize giving ceremony of the national essay competition organized by the NCC in Abuja.
The Mobile number Portability is a platform that enables a telecommunications subscriber to switch from one network provider to another at will, irrespective of his location.

Recall that the Commission had on April 22, 2013 launched the mobile Number Portability scheme among Telecoms networks.
Before now, NCC said a total of 126, 236 subscribers had earlier ported across the various telecoms networks.
According to the Commission, a total of 14,183 telecommunication subscribers ported across the networks in the month of April this year as against 13, 383 in March.

The introduction of the MNP was aimed at enabling the telecom subscribers exercise the power of choosing the network of their choice, without losing their phone numbers. Also, its introduction was aimed at enhancing customer services, deepening competition, innovative services, wider coverage for all networks and above all, crowning the consumer as king in the market place.
In his remarks, the Executive Vice Chairman of the commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah said the mobile number portability was not only introduced to better the quality of service by service providers but to engender world best practices in the nation’s telecom sector.
He said that the MNP, apart from engendering healthy competition among the operators, had also compelled the operators to increase their investment and facility upgrade since the introduction of the initiative in 2013.

On the essay competition, Juwah said, the competition was initiated to deepen awareness and knowledge of Nigerian subscribers about the working and operations of the industry.

The highlight of the event however, was presentation of prizes to the winners. The first prize went to Disable Johnson of the University of Lagos who went home with a N500, 000 cash prize, a lap top and a printer. Second prize went to Ms. Kadri Olamide of University of Ibadan with N300, 000 cash prize, while the third prize went to Mr. Ifeanyi Okpala of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun state with N200,000 cash prize.

Also speaking on the essay competition, the head of Public Affairs, NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo said, the competition was targeted at enhancing research skills, encourage academic competition and excellence and building the capacity of the undergraduates.

According to him, 339 entries was received for the competition across both public and private Universities, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education in the country. After the assessment, only 170 scored between 10-49 per cent while 160 participants scored 50-70 per cent.  In the end, three students emerged winners.

The essay was titled “The Effect of Mobile Number Portability on the Telecoms Service and Usage in Nigeria”. The commission had on November 18, 2013 placed an advertisement for the commencement of the essay competition. The Commission said the essay contest has come to stay and will now be an annual event but would be spread to other areas of telecom services.