MTN Nigeria has taken a big hit by recording 49 per cent of the overall subscribers that have switched service providers under the recently introduced Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme, according to figures released this week by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
With
over 114 million active phone lines in Nigeria
On the
same day of number porting launch, MTN, the largest network by subscriber
numbers, launched its widely celebrated “Saka Don Port
In the
controversial TV commercial, MTN used an actor popularly known as Saka, who
hitherto featured in TV commercials for rival Etisalat Nigeria
The Saka Don Port
Figures
released by NCC showed that Etisalat may have emerged the big winner in the
number porting duel between the two mobile phone companies as it recorded the
biggest gain of 44 per cent in the first month of porting in the country,
reported TechonologyTimes, an online ICT publication.
NCC
Director of Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, said number porting had deepened
competition so far and given subscribers a choice to switch networks without
losing their unique numbers, which he cited as one of the gains of the
milestone 12th year of commercial roll out of GSM services in Nigeria
Ojobo
said within the first month after the April launch of number
porting, among an overall number of subscribers that switched service providers
in the telecoms market, MTN topped the losers table when it recorded a 49 per
cent switch to other networks in May.
Globacom
followed MTN by recording losses of 23 per cent; Airtel Nigeria was number three with overall losses of
17 per cent while Etisalat Nigeria
