Ghana''s telecoms regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA) has announced plans to offer number portability on both landline and mobile networks.
Joshua Peprah, Director of Regulations and Licensing at NCA said ＾We¨ve also had informal discussions with the telecom operators on this service and in principle, they have no problem with it. Their main concern has to do with the cost associated with the implementation of the service,"
However, he added that ＾as of now, we have not mandated the telecom operators to implement the service. The market should really be ripe for it and besides, the stakeholder consultation is still ongoing.￣
The Chief Operating Officer of
Millicom Ghana Limited, Percy Grundy told the City & Business Guide newspaper that: ＾We welcome number portability and we are ready for it since it would allow subscribers to choose the best network.￣
No timescale for the launch was provided though.
The regulator is also currently in discussions over plans to introduce yet another mobile operator into the market. The country already has five operators, but according to figures from the Mobile World database, the country only had 7.6 million customers at the end of last year. That figure equates to a population penetration level of just 33%.
The five operators (and market share) are:
MTN (53%), Tigo (26.7%), Ghana Telecom (16.8%), Kasapa Telecom (3.5%) & Westel (0%)
Source:cellular-news
