Impact of Mobile Number Portability on Service Delivery in the Mobile Telecommunication Industry in Ghana; Case Study of Bharti Airtel Ghana Limited, Kumasi

Abstract

The mobile telecommunication industry has seen a major increase in competition in recent years. This as a result of similarity of service provided.  In giving consumers more bargaining power the, National Communication Authority (NCA) has introduce Mobile Number Portability (MNP) which enables subscribers the opportunity to switch or change providers.

The study intents to investigates the impact of MNP on service delivery, and go further to ascertain  the factors that influence customer porting decisions, benefit of porting to the company and customers, the nature of service quality before and after the introduction of MNP. The research design was descriptive, both primary and secondary sources of data collection method were used to answer the research questions. Primary data was gathered from the one hundred and sixty four (164) respondents through a structured questionnaire. The target population for the study was therefore all the customers who have ported to Airtel in Kumasi. Combinations of purposive and accidental sampling techniques were used to select the one hundred and sixty four (164) respondents.

The study revealed that price, service quality and company reputation influence customers porting behavior.

It was recommended that the companies should adopt a cost leadership competitive strategy, continues corporate social responsibility programmes, and continues improvement of service quality delivery.

Keywords: Mobile number portability, Service Quality, Competition, Price, Company reputation