According to a new report by Telecommunications Management Group (TMG), 154 million mobile subscribers around the world have kept their mobile telephone number when changing operators, a concept known as mobile number portability (MNP). This feature is not automatic and implementation requires regulatory intervention. By September 2008, MNP was available in 48 countries.
The report identifies the advantages and disadvantages of MNP. A primary advantage is the ability of consumers to select a new mobile service provider without inconvenience or disruption to friends, family or business contacts. For businesses, this is an especially attractive feature, eliminating the expense of updating stationery, business cards or other collateral that contain a mobile phone number. The biggest disadvantage of MNP is perceived to be the cost, which several countries have cited as the reason for not implementing MNP.
The majority of MNP implementations have been in Europe, where the European Union has mandated the introduction of MNP. Most high-income nations in other regions have also implemented MNP. Few developing nations have MNP. China and India, home to the world's two largest mobile markets, have yet to introduce MNP. Hong Kong, where statistically, every mobile subscriber has ported their mobile telephone number at least once, has the world's highest MNP implementation.
Top 10 countries by Mobile Number Penetration (Mobile number ports as a percentage of mobile subscribers), January 2008
Source: Telecommunications Management Group, Inc.
Posted to the site on 28th October 2008
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