TheCable

A total of 187,171 mobile subscribers switched their network service providers in 2020.

This is according to the 2020 subscribers statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

This change was facilitated through the mobile number portability (MNP) scheme.

Launched in 2013, the MNP allows subscribers to migrate from one network to another while retaining their original phone numbers, irrespective of the network the subscriber chooses to migrate to in search of quality service.

For 2020, 9mobile received the higest number of users through the MNP by gaining 74,134 telephone users.

This is followed by Airtel, which added 67,927 subscribers. MTN gained 37,027 customers from others networks to its network, while Globacom recorded 3,870 additional customers.

In terms of subscribers that exited their networks for another, Airtel lost 67,596 customers, followed by Globacom 55,322; MTN 35,881 subscribers; while 9mobile lost 28,372 customers.

In 2019, the telecommunication operators gained a total of 139,022 customers.

In a document released on Monday and titled “Nigeria Mobile Number Portability: Business rules and port order processes”, NCC said mobile operators will henceforth pay a porting transaction fee of N450 on each subscriber than they receive from another network.

“The porting transaction fee charged by the NPC Administrator for each successful port shall be N450 and may at the NCC’s sole discretion be varied from time to time, after consultation with the industry,” the document reads.

“The NPC Administrator shall not charge a fee for processing emergency repatriation porting transactions.”