Who is winning MNP race?

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 30 Nov 2006

In the past week, Cell C and Virgin Mobile have portrayed themselves as net winners in the mobile number portability (MNP) stakes. However, MTN and Vodacom insist it is still too early to tell which operator is winning.

Earlier this week, Cell C claimed independent statistics showed it was the biggest winner over the first 12 days, after the introduction of MNP on 10 November.

The Cell C network (including Virgin Mobile) had, by late last week, gained over half (56.47%) of the total number of subscribers who had elected to port and change their networks, the third cellular operator said in a media statement.

Cell C notes the latest figures issued by the Central Record Data Base also show it hardly lost any customers to rival networks.

Shot in the arm

"These independent figures are a massive shot in the arm for Cell C and confirms the strategic logic behind the partnership with Virgin Mobile SA," says chief executive Jeffrey Hedberg.

However, Virgin Mobile says in a media statement that more than 40% of customers who were successfully ported joined Virgin Mobile.

This would mean that of the 56.47% that ported to the Cell C network, including Virgin Mobile subscribers, only about 16% joined Cell C as subscribers.

Cell C also says in a media statement that 13.55% of the total number of ported subscribers were Cell C customers.

Vodacom and MTN would not release specific statistics with regard to their net gains and losses on MNP.

However, Dot Field, Vodacom's chief communications officer, notes that since the inception of MNP, Vodacom has had a net gain with postpaid contracts and corporate accounts, and a net loss with prepaid accounts.

"The numbers continue to be relatively small and not material," she says.

MTN senior manager of PR and internal communications Wandile Mkhatshwa also notes it is still too early to say with certainty that the current MNP activity is indicative of future trends.