Number Portability To Begin By September – NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Wednesday said? that the Number Portability (NP) service would begin by September.

In an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, Dr. Eugene Juwah, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, said that the license for the service would be given to the operator this February.

NP is a service that allows a subscriber to use another network other than his original network without losing his original number.

Juwah said that the NP operator would be allowed six months to build the infrastructure and an additional two months to test run the infrastructure.

''So we expect that most likely the Number Portability service will start in September this year,'' he said.

The NCC chief also said that the NCC was on the verge of auctioning the remaining slots on the 2.3GHZ frequency.

''We are also looking at the 2.6GHZ frequency, which today is not in the custody of NCC, it is in the custody of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

“And we are discussing within the National Frequency Management Council on what to do with this frequency.

“We believe that by the time we conclude all these, there will be enough frequency to be able to add towards the fibre development to create a good broadband deployment in Nigeria,'' Juwah said.