Vodacom gains from number portability

[semiautomatix]

So long and thanks for the all the fish

Was it not "us" who wanted this?
Pay how? The money is spend already!
And making them wait will benefit the porters how?

True, we did want it, but I was hearing about number portability the last time I upgraded my phone - in 2004 (When we originally wanted it)! MTN and Vodacom (and the DOC) have been extremely successful in holding back the process for over two years... Why do they seem so upset that everyone has not changed providers, with their number, in one week?

The point of the article was that the fewer porters there are (particularly to Vodacom, in this instance) the more it costs (ROC) that particular provider... Guess if you are one of the majority of Vodacom subscribers this really doesn't apply. But then again, porting away from a particular provider costs them more in the long run, so be my guest.

 

[GavinMannion]

I think Vodacom is trying to pull the wool on this one.

I will most likely leave Vodacom at the end of my contract but if they think I am going to do it right now and then buy out the rest of my contract they are sadly mistaken...

Just wait for the first corporate to do this and then we'll see what they have to say about it.

Umm excuse me Mr Knott-Craig Absa has decided to move their 15 000 contracts to MTN and keep their numbers, do you think the MNP might have something to do with this?

 

[BTTB]

It's going to pick up. Remember, most people (like me) will wait for their contracts to expire before they move provider.

Anyway Knott-Craig - the most expensive waste of time is Vodacom supporting a bunch of Super 14 losers instead putting more people in their call centres. To wait for 45 minutes before a call is answered is unacceptable.

Advertising.
Vodacom must have spent hundreds of millions of Rands promoting their products over the years.
Much of which was just for Taxation Purposes IMO.

MNP is a service.
Does Knott Craig not want to provide a better service or is it all just numbers to him.
1 Million Rand per customer. Very cheeky.

 

[lilDeath]

I was in a Voda shop yesterday evening to do some 'fishing' on the numbers of people porting...
Sales person told me from Friday they have done 29 ports, to Vodacom.
I asked from what networks, which he then said was MTN.
Apparently 2 people asked to be ported somewhere else... away from Vodacom.

A MTN shop did not have any numbers for me, but said "a lot" have ported to MTN (higher than 50, probably depends on what you consider a lot) and apparently a lot from CellC.

 

[Debbie]

Perhaps the ability to change service providers will encourage them to reduce mobile call rates in an attempt to keep clients and thus place pressure on tariffs

Thank you TonyA, you are correct- for some reason I just didn't see that angle.

 

[lilDeath]

Unfortunately, I think it goes a bit deeper than this. There are other factors also at play here...

No doubt the big players, MTN and Vodacom, have checked how many people are locked into their contracts. These people are less likely to move, because of the buyout cost.
AFAIK this buyout cost is not fixed and can be anything the NP want to charge. (I might be mistaken here.)
Logic and business sense dictates that they are going to make sure they will not any lose money when applying this cost, so even though lowering the call rates are possible (and hopefully will happen sooner than later) it is not the only variable.

In addition to the other market players reactions' also playing a role.

 

[Omac]

True, we did want it, but I was hearing about number portability the last time I upgraded my phone - in 2004 (When we originally wanted it)! MTN and Vodacom (and the DOC) have been extremely successful in holding back the process for over two years...

And now that its finally here you want to delay it further?

Why do they seem so upset that everyone has not changed providers, with their number, in one week?

Because they said it was no big thing and would be a waste of money and rescources. (yes, they also said other stuff that was just trying to protect their bottom line)

The point of the article was that the fewer porters there are (particularly to Vodacom, in this instance) the more it costs (ROC) that particular provider...

My understanding is that it's done and paid for, so the money is already spent. The point being made is, IMO, that they were right. It's proved to be no big thing.

Guess if you are one of the majority of Vodacom subscribers this really doesn't apply. But then again, porting away from a particular provider costs them more in the long run, so be my guest.

 

[Boodles]

Vodacoms', alan was on radio yesterday (monday) - 60 ported, 40 deported, that gives them a extra 20 people.

CellC were on radio today but could not give numbers.

Nothing on virgin or mtn yet... will post when i hear.

 

[bwana]

I faxed in my form the other day and havent heard back.

EDIT - my bad - seems I faxed it to the wrong number.

 

[Gladiator]

after todays MNP stats (ie. after his comments in teh article), Game over,vodacom win

 

[bwana]

after todays MNP stats (ie. after his comments in teh article), Game over,vodacom win

This is something that is going to gain momentum - calling it anything but a victory for the consumer is a bit premature.

 

[eremos]

My brain is addled (did someone spike my coffee?), so forgive me if this is unclear.

Vodacom is obviously not going to send leaflets to their own customers advertising MNP, because that would be like encouraging them to switch away.

Most customers don't deal with Vodacom direct though, they deal with a reseller like Autopage, and other SPs could very well approach Autopage and offer them incentives to encourage customers to switch to their network.

Replace Vodacom in the above with Cell C or MTN if you like.

For example, Cell C goes to Autopage and authorises them to offer customers from MTN this phone on this tariff that nobody else gets, and in return Autopage gets a small kickback.

Suddenly there's a lot of pressure for SPs to offer better and better deals, and everybody wins.

 

[Drone 42]

SO FEW people have used the R300m system designed to let cellphone users hop from one network to another and take their number with them that it has cost Vodacom R1m for each customer to do so.

That's like buying a house for 7 million and then after living there for a week to say it cost you a million a night to stay there

 

[BTTB]

Knott Maths

That's like buying a house for 7 million and then after living there for a week to say it cost you a million a night to stay there

As Telkom would say, this is inaccurate and "Knott" Maths, but a case of Chinese Maths.

Managing executive for retail marketing at Telkom Steven Hayward said it was not accurate to bundle these together; this was a case of "Chinese maths"

Link. Telkom slams price critics
Note: No offence to Chinese people.

 

[vodacom3g]

Interesting to see Vodacom whining. Some Telkom rubbing off after all.

Not sure who's whining? So far Vodacom seem to have a Nett gain of subscribers.

All AKC said was that it's a complex system and problems are bound to occur. Ask some of the smaller operators, who, despite cools TV ads, were not ready on Friday....

If you were one of the first 100 to port to Vodacom, you can always go down in history as one the subscribers for whom Vodacom paid a Million Rand!

Debbie2, PM me and I'll see if I can find some info for you.

 

[Skeptik]

I think people are waiting and watching. The lead up to this change has been relatively quiet.

Many, I'm convinced, believe the networks are as bad as each other, which is a separate problem.

Recently there have been some quite dramatic changes in tariffs, freebies etc and many will still be dizzy after reading all the huge & expensive hype in the newspapers.

Vodacom has revamped their customer service. They're also quoting MyADSL after a very convenient survey in their favour.

MTN has reduced the cost of the starter packs and revamped them - giving away SMSs and so on. They have per second billing from the 1st second, just like Virgin.

Virgin hasn't really impressed as many as expected - freely admitted by their bosses - so if their initial takeup was low, they can hardly expect a very big drift from rivals.

So what are people supposed to do?! There is also a cost associated with MNP.

I think the public are waiting to see what happens and what other offers appear.

 

[Gladiator]

This is something that is going to gain momentum - calling it anything but a victory for the consumer is a bit premature.

i'm in the "know", trust me the numbers flowing now make the couple on the first day look like a trickle

 

[bwana]

i'm in the "know", trust me the numbers flowing now make the couple on the first day look like a trickle

So momentum is picking up?

 

[dominic]

Advertising.
Vodacom must have spent hundreds of millions of Rands promoting their products over the years.
Much of which was just for Taxation Purposes IMO.

MNP is a service.
Does Knott Craig not want to provide a better service or is it all just numbers to him.
1 Million Rand per customer. Very cheeky.

experience in other markets tells us that the smaller and later entrants (i.e. cellc and virgin) are the biggest gainers from MNP - this is logical on a straightforward statistical basis taking into account current market share. accordingly most of the adspend has been cellc and virgin because they have the most to gain and hence Branson's song and dance routine a while back. looked at another way Voda and then MTN have more to lose

the R1 million per customer comment is laughable coming after 3 days - if anything this is something he should be happy about

re the 60 import / 40 deport figure quoted from Voda - interesting that on the radio yesterday there was mention of the fact that these numbers did not tally with some of the numbers provided by other providers...someone is fibbing here.

what a surprise

 

[Gladiator]

So momentum is picking up?

When vdc boasts about outstanding mnp numbers, just remember, its true

although i dont know how many they've lost so far, to be fair