Number Portability Forum now October 30th...gets more backing

Following the expression of interests from more stakeholders in the telecommunications sector to be part of the deliberations at the Nigerian ICT Summit series on Mobile Number Portability earlier scheduled to hold on Wednesday 26th September at the Golden Gate Paradise, Ikoyi Lagos, the organizers of the event, Private Media Mart Limited and Princelink Communications have announced a new date of October 30th. This is even as NCC and its technical partners on MNP are scheduled to be actively involved in the event.

The event, tagged Number Portability – opportunities and pitfalls, according to the CEO of Private Media Mart Limited, Mr Ejiofor Agada was being organized to give adequate interpretation to the Number portability regime which the country is about to adopt.

Agada said that many subscribers were lost on what they stand to gain when Number portability is implemented in Nigeria and were beginning to entertain unnecessary and unwarranted fears, due to low awareness created for the system in Nigeria.

He noted that the overwhelming interests as well as different questions the subscribers and other stakeholders were expressing since the event was announced clearly indicated that people needed to know more about this system.

For Agada “we regret to announce the shift in date of this event. But it is all for good because we want to accommodate every stakeholder that can add value to the reason the event was muted in the first place as the sheer number of questions received daily about this event, clearly shows that there needs to be more awareness created for the subscribers on Number Portability.

“We are giving opportunity for more speakers and more participants so that at the end of the day, Number portability would have been demystified totally for the benefit of even the commonest subscriber” he added.

Corroborating, the event coordinator, Mr Prince Osuagwu, added that “this is not actually postponement in the real sense of it. It is just a deliberate shift in date to ensure that no stone is left unturned in making every Nigerian subscriber understand where he or she stands in the proposed Number Portability regime”.

Osuagwu said that the event which has received the endorsement of virtually all ICT stakeholders and groups in the country, would not only help the subscribers but also would provide a platform for the implementers, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to educate all on the technical, operational and beneficial aspects of the proposed MNP to Nigerians.