{"id":550816,"date":"2006-11-14T06:52:28","date_gmt":"2006-11-14T06:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/550816-the-right-call.html"},"modified":"2006-11-14T06:52:28","modified_gmt":"2006-11-14T06:52:28","slug":"the-right-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/550816-the-right-call.html","title":{"rendered":"The right call"},"content":{"rendered":"

But it could take a while. It cost about R300m to install the technology which allows customers to keep their telephone numbers when switching from one cellphone service provider to another, and cellphone companies are complaining that the uptake is slow. <\/font><\/p>\n

Yesterday, Vodacom went so far as to say that since the system was introduced on Friday, it has cost about R1m for each customer to hop from one network to another. <\/font><\/p>\n

Obviously, it\u2019s still early days. The system took so long to be introduced that many customers have either lost interest in it or they have not fully grasped the implications of the move. A survey undertaken by telecoms research group World Wide Worx shortly before number portability was introduced estimated that fewer than 500000 users were likely to use the new service once it was launched. <\/font><\/p>\n

One of the reasons is that only about 5-million of SA\u2019s cellphone users have a contract with a specific operator, with the remaining customers opting for prepaid services. So the survey estimated that about 10% of people on contracts would switch once the facility became available. <\/font><\/p>\n

But let us not forget that there are 33-million cellphone subscribers out there and sooner or later many will cotton on to the benefits of number portability. And there are significant benefits, both for the consumers and for the broader industry. <\/font><\/p>\n

For consumers, they will no longer have to put up with shoddy service and comparatively high charges out of fear that if they move, they will lose their cell number. The knowledge that users can dump a cellphone company relatively easily should, in turn, force providers to improve their service and make their rates competitive. <\/font><\/p>\n

Further, number portability should boost competition in the cellphone market, allowing in more operators. Virgin Mobile came into the South African market in June on the understanding that the introduction of number portability was imminent. <\/font><\/p>\n

When the move was postponed, Virgin group chairman Richard Branson railed against the delays, saying the absence of number portability was an anticompetitive device that operators were using to hang on to their customers. <\/font><\/p>\n

It may be expensive and unpopular among existing cellphone operators, but it\u2019s the right call. Now consumers just need to use it. <\/font><\/p>\n

Discuss this article<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SA\u2019s cellphone companies finally introduced \u201cnumber portability\u201d last week, a long overdue move which should ultimately help make SA\u2019s telecommunications market more competitive. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}