MTN Ghana said they are confident of maintaining all of their nine million customers and winning more customers from other networks when mobile number portability (MNP) takes off on July 1, 2011. In response to a questionnaire from Adom News on MNP, Acting Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of MTN Ghana, Clement Asante said MNP presents an opportunity for more subscribers to join the number one network in the country, MTN. He said MTN, therefore, continues to make significant investments in their network to welcome and accommodate all the new people who will be joining the network from July 1, 2011. “We see MNP as a great opportunity for us to expand our services and welcome more people on board the MTN family to enjoy the best in telecommunication services on Ghana’s number 1 brand,” he said. Mr. Asante hinted that in the next few weeks and throughout the year MTN would be enhancing their value proposition even more to give their valued customers more reason to choose MTN. Telecom industry regulator, National Communication Authority (NCA) recently told telecom reporters that MNP will take off on July 1, 2011. MNP allows mobile phone users to migrate their phone numbers, including the network code, to a different network. But Mr. Asante noted that MTN does not expect any significant migration of phone numbers as a result of MNP, saying that in other jurisdictions MNP triggered very insignificant migration of phone numbers and they do not expect anything different in Ghana. He observed that several people own dual and multi SIM cards in Ghana so they are already enjoying the services of different networks so migration will not be that significant. Telecom reporters in Ghana have been talking about MNP for over two years now and NCA, but MTN said that more needs to be done in the area of public education before July 1st. Mr. Asante said MTN’s own internal research indicated that the public knows next to nothing about what MNP is and its implications to them. He therefore called on the regulator and the media to intensify public education on the MNP before it begins. Mr. Asante also noted that the NCA’s proposal that people who owe their networks can still port their numbers and make arrangement to pay their previous network later, can lead to challenges for the industry. “It is important that we realize that if this is not managed well, the system will impact negatively on the industry,” he said, adding that industry players are still holding discussions with the regulator and they believe those issues would be addressed before MNP is implemented in July. Story by: Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona/Adom News/Ghana