A  little over 1, 655, 404 switches have been carried out  since the introduction of mobile number portability  three years ago.

According to figures released by National Communications Authority, the time taken to port has improved substantially to four minutes.

The  Mobile Number Portability which was introduced in July 2011, by the National Communications Authority,  was to allow subscribers to change from one network to another while keeping their old numbers.  

The report show that 72 percent of those who switched networks, actually stayed with the operator they ported to.

TIGO  was the biggest gainer with 249,725 ports to their network; VODAFONE was next with 228,183 ports, while MTN lost about  402, 244 subscribers over the three year period.

AIRTEL  lost  58, 687, EXPRESSO  saw about  858 ports moving out of  the network,  while  GLO  also lost  16, 119.

In its third year, 838,202 requests had been completed, showing an increase of 87% over the second year.

From the launch date of July 7, 2011 until the end of the third year 1,655,404 porting requests have been completed.

The number of completed ports represent about 6% of the total active mobile subscription base.

This far exceeds any other implementation of MNP in sub-Saharan Africa, the markets which are most directly comparable to Ghana.  

The milestone of one million successful ports was achieved on October 12, 2013, and was celebrated by three of the mobile networks each giving one of their customers who ported at that time 1,000 Ghana Cedi credit per month for one year.

Additionally, Porting Access Ghana Limited, operator of the central porting system, gave each of the lucky winners a Smartphone on which they could use their newly-ported numbers.

Ghana’s success with MNP can be largely be attributed to the initial advance preparations and rigorous testing and the collaboration amongst all the key stakeholders; National Communications Authority, Porting Access Ghana (the central MNP service provider), and the mobile network operators.

 Current figures show that the net impact on each operator ranges from a positive of 6% to a negative of 3% of their respective subscriber bases, with new ports typically running between 50,000 and 85,000 per month.

Of key mention is the porting speed which remains extraordinarily fast as measured against international benchmarks.

In June, 2014, the average porting time was four minutes, 16 seconds, and in that month, 67% of requests were completed in two minutes or less.

Porting can therefore be fully completed and demonstrated before the customer even departs from the agent or shop of his/her new network.

Statistics indicate that most customers who have ported are satisfied with their decision to do so, as 72% of them remain ported.

This represents a much higher rate of loyalty than generally prevails in the market.

For the Authority, MNP has achieved its purpose as it has removed obstacles for any mobile telephony customer who wished to change networks but was reluctant to do so due to the inconvenience of changing his/her number.

Even after MNP launch in other African countries, Ghana remains the unchallenged leader in MNP performance in Africa and ranks among the best implementations in the world.

NCA performs a dual role of mentor to the MNP process, analyzing and promoting performance improvements, and as regulator when the situation indicates.