Vodafone admits error on MNP

Vodafone Ghana on Wednesday said it committed an error in saying that mobile number portability (MNP) was not possible between the GSM and the CDMA networks.

"Immediately after our workshop on MNP we made further checks and found out that we erred," Major Albert Don-Chebe, Head of Corporate Communications of Vodafone Ghana, told the GNA.

"We have since called almost all the media house represented at the workshop and retracted the error."

Mr Eric Valentine, Head of Technical Systems at Vodafone Ghana, told journalists at a workshop on Monday on MNP hosted by Vodafone that MNP was not possible between GSM and CDMA because of the difference in technology.

But Mr. Bob Palitz, Managing Director of Kasapa Telecom, the only CDMA operator in Ghana, challenged Mr. Valentine's claim, saying that "the ability to move phone numbers between CDMA and GSM networks is well established".

He explained that the mobile number portability (MNP) function was carried on between respective switching installations of the operator, and not their base stations, which may use different technology.

Mr. Palitz further stated that Vodafone's major US subsidiary, Verizon Wireless, which used the same CDMA technology as Kasapa, routinely ported thousands of subscriber numbers to and from competing GSM and CDMA networks.

Major Don-Chebe said Vodafone's own checks had confirmed what Mr. Palitz said but was of the view that since both Vodafone and Kasapa were fighting for the same cause - the speedy implementation of MNP in Ghana - the common goal should not be sacrificed on the altar of protracted claims and counter claims.

There are two main telephony technologies; Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access).

MNP is a system that allows cellular phone users to change networks and yet maintain their original phone number, including the network prefix of the network they moved from.

Both Kasapa and Vodafone have said that they had enough capacity to take on as many ported numbers from any network.

The National Communication Authority (NCA) is reported as saying that some of the operators did not have enough capacity to warrant a successful deployment of MNP.