The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has found that the adoption of mobile number portability (MNP) services remains significantly below expectations, more than three years after the program’s launch in 2021.
In its latest assessment, the PCC revealed that since the Mobile Service Provider (MSPs) began porting services on September 30, 2021, less than 100,000 or around 0.10 percent of total subscribers have switched telcos while keeping their original mobile numbers by the end of 2024.
This is significantly lower than those reported in most jurisdictions with MNP, the PCC stated.
The low uptake may be attributed to limited public awareness of the MNP Act with only five percent of surveyed respondents indicating familiarity with the law.
The survey findings prompted PCC to convene a policy dialogue (SPD) with Telecommunications Connectivity Incorporated (TCI) on July 9 to discuss the findings of a competition impact assessment of Republic Act No. 11202 or the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Act. TCI serves as the MNP “clearing house” that manages the technical systems and coordinates the porting process across networks, ensuring that subscribers can switch mobile service providers (MSPs) without changing their mobile numbers.
Despite this, the study affirmed that the MNP Act expands consumer choice and encourages competitive behavior among MSPs. It also noted the need to revisit the current agreement between TCI and the technology partner managing the systems behind number porting to address the high cost of maintaining unused capacity of the facility.
TCI officials acknowledged the lack of public awareness and shared ongoing efforts to improve the same. They also expressed openness to relaunching the service to the public to refresh TCI’s marketing and promotional efforts.
