By Robert Ndwiga, Special Correspondent

How close are Kenya’s mobile phone users to enjoying the benefits of number portability?

Not very close, it seems. Number portability refers to the ability of subscribers to retain their fixed or mobile telephone numbers, when changing service providers in a specific area.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has just three months to go before its September 2009 deadline to implement its version of number portability — it calls it Service Provider Number Portability (SPNP).

However, the regulator is yet make a decision on whether to licence local number portability operators, leaving consumers at the mercy of dominant mobile service providers.

It prefers, instead, to hide behind its so-called principle of technology neutrality in the new market structure it introduced.

The SPNPs were supposed to act as intermediaries between mobile phone users and the service providers, to ensure a seamless service across all networks. Number portability is also meant to push operators to improve services, so as to retain their subscribers.

All mobile phone operators in Kenya are required to have a provision for number portability as part of CCK’s licence requirements.

However, plans to launch the facility have faced an uphill task. The first attempt in 2004 was done when the CCK undertook consultation on the number portability implementation.

The results indicated that the market was not ready for implementation of the service at the time, because there were just two mobile operators, Safaricom and Celtel (now Zain).

System in use elsewhere

However, with the entry of two more players, Orange and Yu, the Commission undertook another public consultation, which closed on December 15, 2008, with the commission recommending that an All Call Query (ACQ) centrally administered number portability database (NPDB). NPDB method would be best for Kenya, as it has been applied in other countries In Europe, US and Canada.

Under this system, the originating network receives a call and routes it to a NPDB. The NPDB then returns the routing number associated with the dialed directory number to the; originating network which then transfers the call to the new serving network.

However, if this system is to be adopted, then CCK will still have to licence service providers to manage the central data base.

The ACQ NPDB option also has other drawbacks.

Among them is the fact that it is very expensive to set up given the high traffic involved.

Its advantages include the fact that it does not involve the donor network, is more efficient and is a great when a large portion of subscribers opt for number portability.

Last year, the two leading mobile operators, Safaricom and Zain, indicated that implementation of number portability would be potentially expensive, and that the market was not ready to adopt the facility to the level it has been in India, Singapore and other western countries.

CCK also argues that whereas number portability is a useful feature, its introduction must be considered carefully, especially with regard to the type of networks users are permitted to migrate to.

In implementing number portability, the concerns of the recipients of calls on ported numbers, as well as those of the callers, must be considered.

"For example, Kenya’s numbering plan has been designed to enable callers to distinguish between calls made to different network types. Concern stems from the fact that tariffs for calls from the fixed network to the mobile networks and those from the mobile to fixed network cost significantly higher than calls within the two types of networks.

Forking out more cash

"If users are allowed to migrate from the fixed line to mobile, then their callers would be forced to pay much more than they had planned, especially where the caller is not aware of the called party’s migration to the other type of network. Ways of dealing with this concern must therefore be explored," says CCK in its current market consultation document on number portability.

When contacted for comment CCK told Sunday Standard that the licence provisions are not applicable in Kenya yet, until the end of the consultation period in September, when a way forward will be decided.

"The Commission is in the process of consolidating the views and carrying out a cost benefit analysis, ofo implementation of the service. This will then inform the decision to be taken whether or not to adopt the service," said a statement from the CCK’s communications department.