MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY AND TELECOM SUBSCRIBERS IN NIGERIA: A CASE OF PANEL DATA ANALYSIS
Abstract
Mobile phone was touted as an innovative device in the twentieth century. With the advent of advanced technologies like GSM, CDMA, WLL and 3G technology and a growing number of service providers, the competition has increased considerably. Day by day, both the public players and the private players are putting in their resources and efforts to improve their services so as to give the maximum service delivery to their customers. The focal point of this study is to assess the consequence of Mobile Number Portability on total subscribers and also to fish out the operators that are better-off or worse-off as a result of the launch of MNP in Nigeria. On the basis of this, static panel data analysis was used among the four major operators (MTN, Airtel, Etisalat and Glo). Quarterly data were used from 2013 to 2014 and the study reveals that there exists an inverse relationship between MNP and subscribers of each operator. The study discovered the dominance of MTN and Glo ahead of other operators as a result of the launch of MNP. On this premise, it is highly recommendable that MNP should be encouraged by government and regulatory agencies so as to enhance the competitive framework among the operators in the industry.
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