Lim Keng Yaik once again reminded us that the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications is pushing ahead with its plan to implement a mobile number portability (MNP) system in our fair country. MNP basically means that subscribers will be able to take their number and subsequently their business to another carrier/network in the event that they are not satisfied with the incumbent for whatever reason whatsoever.
I, for one, will welcome such a scheme, as it would surely spur the carriers to look after its subscribers. As a long time subscriber to one of the big carriers here, I feel neglected by my current carrier, as it is concentrating its efforts on getting new subscribers (and hence market share), rather than looking after the churn rate.
Now, I’ve been itching to switch to another carrier for ages now, but what’s holding me back is the hassle of getting everybody updated on my new mobile number, in the event of the switch, but with this new MNP system in place, I can just hop-on and hop-off as I please, without barriers to change. What this system will ideally achieve would be to force competition between carriers to another level. Carriers will now have to pay more attention to the churn rate, as well as provide incentives for existing subscribers to stay with the carrier, perhaps tying subscribers down with a free phone & contract tie-in, or entice users to switch by providing switching incentives or packages.
I foresee a certain amount of stalling being carried out by some of the big carriers, but internally, I’d bet they must be gearing up face such a challenge in the local telecommunications service provider industry. I’d place my money on Digi being at the forefront of this new development as they seem to me to be a pretty innovative company, rising above odds to compete against bigger competitors. I don’t want to shill for them but it would be interesting to watch what happens. Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below.
[via The Star Online]
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