Par Ahmad Al-Assad, Maktoob Research

Ma femme m'a dit un jour dans l'un de nos magasins que si nous achetions ce canapé, je ne demanderais jamais rien. Le canapé était moche et cher, mais j'ai pris mes paroles au pied de la lettre et j'ai été tenté par sa promesse : ne demander rien d'autre ! Eh bien, j'aurais dû faire plus d'analyses là-dessus. J'ai découvert plus tard que ma femme voulait dire qu'elle ne demanderait jamais rien à moins qu'elle n'aime autre chose !

One of the most important questions in competitive mobile markets if you can keep your mobile number when changing between mobile operators, would you be willing to change. In most surveys, a two-digit percentage of respondents always say yes.

À la suite de cet incroyable potentiel et de cet accélérateur de concurrence, une technologie appelée : Mobile Number Portability (MNP) a vu le jour. MNP permet aux utilisateurs mobiles de conserver leur numéro de mobile lorsqu'ils passent d'un opérateur de réseau mobile à un autre.

Telecom professionals thought that introducing such technology would change the market shares of operators in any Arab country. In mid 2006, Saudi Arabia was the first Arab country to introduce MNP, followed shortly by Oman. UAE, Jordan and other Arab countries are close to doing the same.

So, did MNP change the market shares in the Saudi Arabian mobile marker? No, it t! After six months of launching MNP to the public for free, less than 15,000 mobile users used it (out of around 20 million mobile lines in Saudi Arabia!). So what were the reasons behind the poor adoption MNP by subscribers? And does this mean that MNP was a failure in Saudi Arabia?

On the contrary, MNP was a success in Saudi Arabia, as it achieved its main objectives: Boost competition between mobile players and enhance quality of services provided in the market. As a reaction for introducing MNP, the Saudi Mobile operators were alarmed. The mobile operators have launched extensive campaigns promoting new services, new offers, reduced rates, as well as enhancing their network quality and coverage. Hence, the reasons behind willingness to change operators vanished. Another minor reason for poor embracement of MNP was the sluggishness of mobile users of going through the process of MNP which takes up to 5 days in some cases.

MNP can be considered a preemptive procedure for fighting monopolistic competition in mobile markets. The telecommunications s main goal of introducing such service is to push operators (and mainly the dominant ones) to compete on the bases of better services, rates and quality, thus boost competition in a healthy way. The regulator t want any operator to depend on the fact that subscribers would not change their operator just because their mobile number is very precious to them.

Pour résumer : si MNP était introduit sur un certain marché, les opérateurs mobiles devraient soit véritablement satisfaire leurs besoins, soit risquer de les perdre.

Entreprise contributrice :
Recherche Maktoob. Dubaï, Emirats Arabes Unis. www.maktoob-research.com/
Contact : Ahmad Al-Assad, directeur régional de la recherche. [email protected].
Tél : +971 4 360 279