Officials of Airtel Ghana believe it will be the network of choice under Mobile Number Portability (MNP) because of its default call rate of 8 Ghana pesewas per minute for calls to all networks. Head of Corporate Communications at Airtel Ghana, Donald Gwira told Adom News that unlike other networks that have tariff plans which did not always give low tariffs, affordability on Airtel was constant and reliable so there are no qualms about whether one point or the other is paying more or less for calls on Airtel. “We are also the fastest growing network in terms of coverage and spread across country and have the best network quality so you can understand why call drops, and speech mutation are not much of a challenge to our existing customers,” he said. He added that Airtel’s award-winning 24 hours customer service would also make Airtel a net winner under MNP. Mr. Gwira said Airtel has also invested millions of dollars to establish an automated MNP system to give customers a seamless porting experience whether they are porting in or porting out. “We would however not make any promises about the porting period because the process could go beyond what we promise or even less depending on circumstances beyond our control.” Like other service providers, Mr. Gwira said Airtel would also absorb the full porting cost on behalf of customers porting from other networks to Airtel. He said Airtel was not interested in enticing people to port their numbers into Airtel, but it was important to note that “when you port to Airtel, our system is built to back up all the data on your SIM card so you do not lose any information on your previous SIM card. “We recognize that it is against the rules to entice people to either come to or stay on your network so we will not do any of that but our value offerings, low tariffs, quality services, market position and strong brand will be the winners,” he said. At least one operator has promised phone book backup as an enticement for people to port unto their network. Mr. Gwira also assured the public that Airtel would not sabotage any customers who wish to port out of Airtel because the company believed that anyone who does so would return to Airtel in no time. “We will become net winners through fair means because the consequences of using fraudulent means to win are too grave,” he said. Mr. Gwira said Airtel had also completely integrated its fixed line network into its automated MNP system to make it easy for fixed line numbers to recognize ported numbers on the Airtel network no matter the network code. He urged people who want move to Airtel to walk to any of their customer service centres where they will be made to fill a form after which the automated system would take over the process until the person’s number is ported in a matter of minutes. “You can port as many numbers from all the networks you use now to Airtel and be sure that you can keep those numbers but on a better network,” he said. Mr. Gwira said currently Airtel had registered over 90 per cent of its customers and hopes to register some more before the SIM card registration deadline by the end of September. “In case you are unable to register your SIM card before the dead line, you can always come to Airtel for new numbers except that you would have lost that old number and the data on it,” he said. Airtel has published frequently asked questions (FAQ) and answers about MNP on its website and in some major newspapers. In view of this Mr. Gwira said in the coming days the company would embark on a massive radio campaign on MNP. Story by Samuel Nii Narku Dowona/Adom News/Ghana