Mobile Number Portability: A Case Study of Kenya ()
ABSTRACT
In the telecommunications industry, mobile numbers are increasingly
being seen as an asset of the regulator. The freedom of the customer using it
is left to him/her to decide which service provider to use while retaining the
same number. Mobile number portability (MNP) has been introduced to provide a
platform for this freedom to the customer. The Telecommunications market
Regulator in Kenya, the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK), began the
course of mobile number portability in 2010 through newspaper advertisement.
The regulator had an aim that in the end, the right customer experience will be
provided by the service providers, and help service providers to build profitable
and lasting relationships between the service providers and their customer, and
to differentiate themselves in the market. In this paper, we seek to evaluate
the performance of MNP in Kenya since its launch. This paper seeks to find out
how the service has performed after the first three months of operation. We
survey and analyze MNP framework in Kenya and compare that to MNP in Japan,
Finland, Sweden and Hong Kong to establish the future of MNP in Kenya. It first
looks at the MNP framework as used in Kenya and the procedure for reversal in
case the customer is dissatisfied with a service provider who moves to and
makes a reference to how the service has performed in other markets such as
Finland, Sweden, and Hong Kong in order to enable comparative observations.
Since there has been very little literature published for countries in Africa,
it will only make comments on countries like Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria.
Further, it gives recommendations to the participating parties.
Share and Cite:
M. Kimutai, K. Kimutai and A. Mzee, "Mobile Number Portability: A Case Study of Kenya,"
Technology and Investment, Vol. 4 No. 4, 2013, pp. 255-260. doi:
10.4236/ti.2013.44030.