Eleven Out Of Nineteen Arab Countries Launched The Mobile Number Portability Service

A new report from Arab Advisors Group covered the availability of Mobile Number Portability (“MNP”) in the Arab World by January 2021. The report covered the porting process of the MNP service, terms and conditions, porting fees, porting time, retention activity by cellular operators, lock in period and the cancellation process.

Mobile Number Portability (“MNP”) service is important in promoting higher levels of competition among cellular operators, and improving the quality of services available for subscribers, increasing acquisition and encourages healthy and fair competition among cellular operators, and also promoting lower call and interconnection rates. Arab Advisors Group released a new report "An Overview of Mobile Number Portability in the Arab World". The report, which was released in March 2021, answers the following questions:

• Which MENA countries launched the MNP service?
• Which Arab country enforces porting fees?
• How do MNP porting time and the lock-in period differ among cellular operators in the Arab world?
• Do telecom regulatory authorities allow cellular operators to engage in retention activities?

Fayez Abu Awad, Chief Advisor at Arab Advisors Group, noted that “In an age where so much of consumer’s digital identity is tied to a mobile number, regulator-enabled consumer lock-in via obstructing number portability is unjustifiable and is more of a reflection of incumbent influence rather than efficient market regulation.”

“After assessing the MNP service across MENA, it has been found that cellular operators share several MNP terms and conditions. For instance, all of the cellular operators which offer MNP made it available for both prepaid and postpaid personal subscribers. Furthermore, the donating operators oblige postpaid subscribers to settle their bills and pay their debts before porting to other operators, whereas, prepaid subscribers lose their unused prepaid balance when porting to other operators.” Dalia Haddad, Lead Research Analyst at Arab Advisors Group added.

Please contact Arab Advisors Group for more details or to get a copy of the report's Table of Contents. The report “An Overview of Mobile Number Portability in the Arab World” was released to Arab Advisors Group’s subscribers and can be purchased individually for US$ 3,000.

The purchase of this report will count towards an annual Strategic Research Service subscription.

Arab Advisors Group’s team of analysts in the region produced over 5,500 reports on the Arab World’s communications, media and financial markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group’s ( www.arabadvisors.com ) Strategic Research Services (Media and Telecom).

To date, Arab Advisors Group serves over 945 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients. Some of our clients can be viewed on https://arabadvisors.com/client-list