MNP 沙烏地阿拉伯

作者：艾哈邁德·阿薩德，Maktoob Research

我的妻子曾經在一次購物中告訴我，如果我們買了這張沙發，我永遠不會要求任何東西。沙發又醜又貴，但我從字面上理解了我的話，並被她的承諾所誘惑：不再要求任何其他東西！好吧，我應該對此進行更多分析。後來我才知道，我老婆的意思是，除非她喜歡別的東西，否則她永遠不會要求任何東西！

在競爭激烈的行動市場中，最重要的問題之一是，如果您在更換行動電信商時可以保留您的手機號碼，您是否願意更換。在大多數調查中，兩位數百分比的受訪者總是說「是」。

由於這種令人難以置信的潛力和競爭助推器，一種稱為「行動號碼可攜性」(MNP) 的技術應運而生。 MNP 使行動用戶能夠在從一個行動網路業者更換到另一個行動網路業者時保留其手機號碼。

Telecom professionals thought that introducing such technology would change the market shares of operators in any Arab country. In mid 2006, Saudi Arabia was the first Arab country to introduce MNP, followed shortly by Oman. UAE, Jordan and other Arab countries are close to doing the same.

So, did MNP change the market shares in the Saudi Arabian mobile marker? No, it t! After six months of launching MNP to the public for free, less than 15,000 mobile users used it (out of around 20 million mobile lines in Saudi Arabia!). So what were the reasons behind the poor adoption MNP by subscribers? And does this mean that MNP was a failure in Saudi Arabia?

On the contrary, MNP was a success in Saudi Arabia, as it achieved its main objectives: Boost competition between mobile players and enhance quality of services provided in the market. As a reaction for introducing MNP, the Saudi Mobile operators were alarmed. The mobile operators have launched extensive campaigns promoting new services, new offers, reduced rates, as well as enhancing their network quality and coverage. Hence, the reasons behind willingness to change operators vanished. Another minor reason for poor embracement of MNP was the sluggishness of mobile users of going through the process of MNP which takes up to 5 days in some cases.

MNP can be considered a preemptive procedure for fighting monopolistic competition in mobile markets. The telecommunications s main goal of introducing such service is to push operators (and mainly the dominant ones) to compete on the bases of better services, rates and quality, thus boost competition in a healthy way. The regulator t want any operator to depend on the fact that subscribers would not change their operator just because their mobile number is very precious to them.

To summarize: If MNP was introduced in a certain market, mobile operators should either truly satisfy their needs, or risk loosing them.

Contributing Company:
Maktoob research. Dubai, UAE. www.maktoob-research.com/
Contact: Ahmad Al-Assad, Regional Research Manager. [email protected].
Tel: +971 4 360 279