Users to blame for failed ports

Johannesburg, 07 Feb 2007

South African cellular operators have denied they are to blame for unsuccessful porting requests from consumers who wish to move to other networks, while retaining their mobile numbers.

This comes amid complaints on consumer advocacy Web site Hello Peter that operators are not following porting procedures as outlined in the mobile number portability regulations.

Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Nashua Mobile and the Number Portability Company say unsuccessful ports can be attributed to incorrect or invalid data being provided by customers. This sometimes results in applications being rejected and consequently causing further delays, Cell C says.

Some ports are unsuccessful because consumers are unaware of the obligations they must meet to port - for example, paying penalty fees for early contract cancellations, says Nashua Mobile MD Mark Taylor.

Sometimes subscribers ask for their ports to be reversed when they become aware of the high value of the contract settlement fees they face, he adds.

Taylor believes extensive consumer education is required to address these problems.

Consumer ignorance

While Vodacom, Cell C and Nashua Mobile would not disclose what proportion of their port requests are unsuccessful, MTN places its proportion of unsuccessful porting requests at 20%.

MTN media relations manager Ravin Maharaj says the majority of these unsuccessful ports were due to consumer ignorance.

Clive Fagan, GM of the Number Portability Company, says as SA's porting system is recipient-based, it is up to the recipient operator to explain to customers why there has been a delay in the porting request and/if the porting request has been unsuccessful.

Complaints need to be lodged with the recipient network and if they are not resolved satisfactorily, the aggrieved party can lodge a complaint with the Independent Communications Authority of SA, he says.

Fagan adds that the database of ported numbers, which is managed by the Number Portability Company and is an intelligent switch with timers to keep track of porting requests, is working well, and has had few problems to date.

"Our records show that 47 calls were made to the call centre by the operators during January and of those, only three are still open," he says.

The porting support teams of all industry players are in daily contact with each other to ensure all porting-related problems are timeously resolved, Visser says.