By Emmanuel Elebeke

Plans have been concluded to assemble Nigeria’s leading lights and stakeholders in the telecommunications sector in Lagos for a one day forum to brainstorm on the implementation of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)proposed Mobile Number Portability (MNP).

The  event,  a breakfast session tagged Number Portability – opportunities and pitfalls, is organised by Private Media Mart Limited

Billed to hold on the 26th of September at Golden Gate Ikoyi Lagos, the event is meant to review the development of the telecoms sector since liberation and the role number portability will play in fashioning the way forward for the sector.

According to the organizers, the event will seek to answer pertinent questions to clear the air on number portability and the way and manner the policy will affect both the operators and subscribers.

Some of the areas to discuss by eminent personalities include setting realistic agenda for the operation of number portability scheme in Nigeria.

To achieve this, the Managing Partner of Private Media Mart limited Mr Ejiofor Agada stated that the NCC and other notable telecoms stakeholders such as telcos, database management companies, the media and members of the public would participate and present reports of their positions while pointing the way forward for number portability.

By the last quarter of this year, Nigeria would join many other countries of the world to launch the Mobile Number Portability, making it possible for a Nigerian subscriber to migrate from one network to another  without losing his original phone number.

However, experience  has shown that new offerings like this hardly experience general acceptance, because very salient facts of the offerings are not thoroughly ironed out between the implementers and the final consumers.

Much information about the new offerings is always hidden to the consumers, fuelling suspicion, hesitation and in most cases outright rejection.