Vodafone Ghana has added its voice to the calls for introduction of the much talked-about mobile number portability facility into the country's telecom sector, to create competition among operators and also give consumers choice in their mobile life. The mobile number portability system is basically a facility that allows mobile phone subscribers to move from one mobile network operator to the other without having to change their existing number. The Executive Head of Technical Regulation Division of Vodacom South Africa, Mortimer Hope, who was flown into the country by Vodafone Ghana to make the case for mobile number portability as part of Vodafone's Telecom Knowledge Series, said the facility is a pro-competitive measure that allows subscribers to move to networks where they can get value for money. Mr. Hope, who has been with Vodacom South Africa where the number portability has been implemented since 2005 said: "In every country where number portability has been implemented, tariffs have dropped dramatically overnight; and this has forced operators to compete on the level of service efficiency." He said, because of mobile number portability in South Africa, operators are now engaged in various retention strategies with their subscribers and also target other subscribers of other operators, which is good for the consumer. The Head of Corporate Communications of Vodafone Ghana, Major (Rtd) Albert Don-Chebe, suggested that the company is lobbying for the immediate implementation of number portability in the country. "People shouldn't be trapped in a network they bought about ten years ago. We believe that number portability is going to be an issue in the country in the next few months, and everyone must know that every maturing market has introduced the system because that is what actually gives consumers choice," he said. Ghana boasts of six licensed mobile operators, all competing for the subscribers' money, but competition in the sector is still thought to be low as consumers await the implementation of mobile number portability. The Managing Director of Kasapa Telecom, Robert Palitz, has long been an ardent advocate of the number portability facility arguing that without the facility, competition in the mobile sector could be at the minimum level and also to the consumers' disadvantage. Although the penetration rate of mobile telephony in Ghana currently stands at about 67 percent, it is difficult to say if the Ghanaian mobile telephone market is really competitive or not. All the six phone companies in the country agree it will create more competition and lower prices for customers, but some are less enthused about seeing the facility implemented at a time most consumers are unhappy with the quality of service offered by the providers. It is understood that part of the issues that has dragged implementation of the facility has been the failure of operators agreeing in terms of a system that would be acceptable to everyone. When the Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu, appeared before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Vetting in February this year, he expressed a strong conviction that the much expected mobile number portability facility would be implemented in the country as soon as possible to boost competition and diversity of products and services in the telecom sector. The National Communication Authority (NCA) recently has said that it has finally set 2011 as the date to implement the much talked-about mobile number portability - as it waits on mobile telephony operators to expand their network capacity to be able to contain the movement of subscribers across networks as a result. The Director of Regulations and Licensing of the NCA; the telecom regulator, Joshua Peprah, recently told B&FT in an interview in Accra that the network capacity of some of the operators is currently not up to the standard required for a successful deployment of the system as the Authority hopes to deepen competition in the telecom sector. He said: "Number portability doesn't happen by itself. It is a desirable thing we want to see happen, but it is probably going to happen within the next 18 to 24 months as the networks get to a level we think is big enough to take on additional capacity. "If you don't make sure the infrastructure of network operators to take on additional capacity is there, you do the people a disservice by giving them number portability to move to small networks which do not have the capacity of the big ones. Because when they get big too, they will also have problems," he said. Source: B&FT