As from April 1st mobile telephone subscribers will have the ability to move from one network to the other without changing their Sim cards and still maintain their number. This is referred to as number portability or porting. Even though the this is meant to boost the level of service from the four main networks, most people are still confused by it. It will for example be hard for the Mobile companies to convince the rural people to move to their networks. According to CCK (Communications Commission of Kenya) a subscriber is supposed to visit the service provider they want to switch to with their Identity card to show proof of ownership to be able to fill the request. Once subscribers have ported to a particular network, they will have to stay for 60 days without porting again.
This confusion of the workings of the Number portability was evident even from the different Customer Care lines that I tried calling to enquire. The Orange Customer Service person I talked to had very little knowledge about number portability. Airtel, was no different and I even had to correct the agent that the company name was Airtel and not Zain. Safaricom kept me on hold for fifteen minutes and i gave up.
No matter whether people know about Number portability or not, the fact is that it has given a whole new meaning to the term PRICE WARS!!
