Mobile Number Portability in Nigeria: Matters Arising

 By Atim Nkese Nkpubre


Watchers of the Nigerian telecommunications industry would agree that things haven’t quite been the same since Monday, 22nd April 2013, when
 Nigeria joined other top countries of the world in implementing the Mobile Number Portability (MNP)  regime, albeit, amid recurring challenges in service quality.  

This is a welcome development and the telecom industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC deserves commendation on this huge accomplishment. The monthly Telecoms Consumer Parliament organised the by the same NCC  can now refocus on other salient issues that are still plaguing our telecoms industry, other than network quality that has dominated discourse right from the inception of GSM in the country about a dozen years ago.
A relatively new phenomenon in a dynamic sector, Singapore was the first country to introduce Mobile Number Portability in 1997, followed by the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in 1999, while Spain and Sweden implemented Mobile Number portability between 2001 and 2002.
With MNP, telecom subscribers in the country can now switch from one operator to another without losing their original telephone number, if the subscriber feels dissatisfied with the service being offered by the service provider. 
What’s more, porting is said to be quite easy and can be effected within 48 hours! The subscriber also has the choice of returning to the initial network in the course of time, if the service later improves and if the subscriber so chooses. The Nigerian telecom consumer is becoming king with the power to hire and fire the service providers depending on the service quality. Now, this is getting really exciting and I’m seriously thinking of joining the company of early adopters of MNP, if only for the fun of it! Please do not ask where I’m porting, because I’m not telling.
Be that as it may, one would be living under a rock not to have noticed the early ripple effects of the latest major development in the telecoms sector, which has dominated discussions in the last couple of weeks, more than anything else, perhaps.
Expectedly, the introduction of Mobile Number Portability in Nigeria is already redefining competition, but not yet in the actual interchange of networks by telecoms subscribers, rather, it is the agenda-setting advertisement released by MTN, which features Hafeez Oyetoro, a man known for comic roles in television series as well as Nollywood movies. 
The MTN television commercial hit the airwaves on national television right on the heels of the announcement by the NCC thereby sending shock waves to many Nigerians on the adventure of Saka, who has now ported to MTN, going by the commercial.
 The advert was as timely as it is straight to the point. I wasn’t surprised at all because that is the way MTN works most of the time, always planning ahead and way in advance. That was one important lesson I learned in my days at the Yello Club, as MTN is fondly known. By the way, I was an employee of the Marketing and Strategy department and later the Corporate Service department of MTN for over three years before moving on to pursue other career goals.
Mr. Hafeez Oyetoro is popularly known as “Saka” - a name he got from a character he played in a popular television soap, “House Apart” in 2005. Saka perfectly depicts the Mobile Number Portability campaign. It remains to be seen what other ad would topple the ‘Saka don port go’ advertisement.
Many have gone quite emotional since the commencement of the MNP campaign by MTN. Sentiments ranging from commendation to outright condemnation, and everything else in between, have come to the fore and understandably so. Some have complained loudly about how MTN should not have poached Saka for its campaign and how ‘unprincipled’ Saka has become for dumping Etisalat for its rival, but, hey, we’re talking business here.
In the midst of our pontification on this issue, however, it should be noted that the proverbial chicken would not have crossed the road if there were strings attached at the other end. Saka wouldn’t have taken a walk so easily if he had a binding contract in place.  And if I remember correctly, MTN still subsists on the core brand values of Leadership, Integrity, Innovation, Relationship and Can-do.
If anything, MTN, it would appear, has suffered from the poaching game, more than any other telecoms company. Employees of MTN and even sponsored assets that are held by the company are usually very attractive to its competitors, even when the new owners haven’t quite thought through what to do with such sponsored assets, which often results in such properties lying dormant after being acquired by competition.
If the prevailing scenario is anything to go by, the MTN’s Mobile Number Portability advertisement has become a case study in marketing communications circles leaving valuable lessons in its wake. The fact that the ad hit the screen on the same day that the NCC made the announcement scores MTN very high on timeliness. It shows a great level of preparedness on the part of the telecoms giant.
The most important element of an advert is its ability to gain the consumer’s attention. Good adverts have the power to make people stop and take notice and the “I don port go” ad also ranks very high in that regard. Love it or hate it, you cannot easily ignore the ad because it is an attention grabbing scenario that truly depicts the situation at hand.
MTN with its ad agency was clearly thinking outside of the box in the conceptualisation of the big idea! This is because the ad also clearly cuts through the competitive clutter to deliver the message in very clear terms. It is unique and different and unlike anything else in its category.
Furthermore, this communication scores very high on audience appeal and actually educates the ordinary man on the street on what Mobile Number Portability is all about.  It’s fun, bold and quite entertaining.
Even Saka, the man in the ‘eye of the storm’, has also come under more scrutiny since the commencement of the MNP campaign, even though he’s been in the trade all his life. It would appear that Saka has reinvented his game after all. All of a sudden, everyone, including yours truly wants to interview Saka for a scoop of the juicy gist. I’m not too sure that Saka had ever received the sort of attention he’s receiving on the ‘Port’ campaign. For a man who is very comfortable playing the roles of houseboy, gateman etc. a lot of people are just probably just getting to know that our dear Saka is a Dramatic Arts graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife and lectures at the Adeniran ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin, Lagos.
For now, I think the dust that has been raised by the MTN ad would appear a needless argument since the network operators in this first phase of implementation, namely, MTN Airtel, Globacom and Etisalat  already understand the rules of engagement in the Mobile Number Portability scenario, as spelt out by the Nigerian Communications Commission. Mum is the word from both MTN and Etisalat as none is granting an interview on the subject matter.
Looking at the scenario from a long term perspective, however, I think the operators should be more concerned with working harder to ensure a more robust network quality in order to forestall migration from their network, which in my thinking is the real cause for alarm.
After all, Mobile Number Portability guarantees freedom for telecom subscribers in Nigeria, including, honourable Saka, or what do you think?