Vodafone Ghana says it has fully integrated its fixed line network and revised its billing system to ensure that numbers ported from other networks unto Vodafone would be recognised by its fixed line network as Vodafone numbers and be billed as such. In response to a questionnaire from Adom News, Vodafone Ghana Head of Corporate Communications Carmen Bruce-Annan said “Vodafone has fully integrated its fixed network and fixed telecoms services in the MNP (mobile number portability) system.” She said the integration was to ensure that “Vodafone fixed services customers will be able to make and receive calls from ported and non-ported mobile numbers without any disruption - our fixed network and billing systems have also been revised and tested to route and bill fixed traffic seamlessly and correctly.” This was in response to concerns raised by industry experts that fixed line operators like Vodafone and Airtel would need to go the extra mile to ensure that their fixed line networks were able to recognise and bill calls from numbers which have ported into Vodafone despite the network prefix. “Vodafone fixed line networks for instance need to recognise from and to 026, 024, 028, 027, 023, 054 and 057 numbers which are now Vodafone numbers as within-network calls and bill them as such, and also recognise calls from and to 020 numbers which have ported out of Vodafone and bill them as such,” experts said. But Airtel does not have problems with reconfiguring its billing system since both its fixed line and mobile charges are 8Gp per minute across network. Carmen Bruce-Annan said Vodafone had made a multi-million-dollar investment in preparation for MNP and that included making the fixed line network MNP compliant, crucial changes the Vodafone network and business systems, business processes and training of staff, to ensure the porting experience for customers on Vodafone was positive, consistent and robust. “Vodafone has taken the conscious decision to invest in automated porting systems which will ensure a consistent, quick and positive porting experience for all customers, whether they are porting in to or out of Vodafone,” she said. She said Vodafone had worked closely with its network vendors to implement reliable post MNP routing across all traffic types carried by its network, in full compliance with the National Communication Authority’s requirements. “We are also launching a range of attractive products to ensure that Vodafone offers the best in value, choice and quality, to all Vodafone customers, both our existing customer base and those subscribers using MNP as an opportunity to join the Vodafone family,” she said. Carmen Bruce-Annan assured the public that Vodafone had no intention or interest in sabotaging any customer who wished to port out of Vodafone from July 1, 2011, but was confident that its value offering would retain existing customers and attract more from other networks. She noted that Vodafone was also actively working with the NCA and other operators in developing and agreeing an aligned communication and education framework to ensure that all stakeholders communicated about the MNP process in a consistent manner to ensure there was no public confusion. “Vodafone will be accelerating its public MNP communication and education programme over the next few weeks up to the launch of MNP on 01 July and beyond,” she assured. Story by: Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona/Adom News/Ghana