How Number Portability has stalled in Jamaica but Caricel and 5G on the Horizon by 2020

“I know that the naysayers had previously thought that Jamaica would not be interested in number portability, but we have seen that with the option to jump ship at any time … it encourages our telecoms to pay more attention to customer service and especially the quality of service”

Minister of Science, Technology and Energy Dr Andrew Wheatley speaking about Number Portability at the 2^nd of the 14^th annual which was held at the Secrets Resorts and Spa located in Freeport, St James

In some really embarrassing news for local telecommunications, Number Portability is not doing so well.

Only 60000 persons have switched networks under Number Portability as noted in the article “Just over 60,000 accounts switched under number portability”, published Thursday, October 27, 2016, The Jamaica Observer.

This shockingly low figure was proudly revealed by Minister of Science, Technology and Energy Dr Andrew Wheatley addressing the 2^nd of the 14^th annual OOCUR (Conference of the Organization of Caribbean Utility Regulators) which was held at the Secrets Resorts and Spa located in Freeport, St James.

The conference Theme, “Creating a Spectrum of Opportunities in the Caribbean” seems in stark contrast to the news that Number Portability was effectively dead!

The upbeat nature of the three-day conference, seemed to be in stark contrast to the progress made in Number Portability Adoption since June of 2015 as reported in my blog article entitled “Jamaica Number Portability 2 months on - How to Port your number as All Good Customer go to Heaven in 90 Days”.  

Back then, around 33000 customer of FLOW and Digicel switched Networks in less than 2 month as noted in the article “33,000 Jamaicans Switch Accounts Under Number Portability”, published August 28, 2015 O. Rodger Hutchinson, The Jamaica Information Service.

So what happened?

Jamaican and Number Portability – Lack of Advertising the cause but Caricel the Cure

But now in 2016, nearly 1 year later, only 60,000 have made use of the facility powered by Porting Access B.V. from the Netherlands as explained in my blog article entitled “Jamaica has selected Porting Access B.V. for NPA - How NPAS will provision a TPRR based CRDB”. 

The slowing down of access to Number Portability is directly related to a lack of advertisement by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Energy. After all, how can you know a service exists if it’s not being continuously advertised?

Still, it has encouraged Telecom Providers to improve their services, albeit they're still mis-treating customers, prompting the OUR to review customer Contracts as noted in my blog article entitled “How FLOW and Digicel Jamaica can improve Customer Contracts as OUR sets Guidelines, Limitations and Penalties”.

Telecom service providers are slowly making adjustments to their customer offerings. But they're yet to offer unlimited data for streaming and Free Wi-Fi Internet from FLOW modems as argued in my Geezam blog article entitled “FLOW Jamaica new Data Plans as FLOW ID, My FLOW App and Streaming Needed”. 

Still, this will not stop the coming of Caricel Jamaica; they can easily use Number portability as their advertising medium to win customers with cheaper Voice and Data Bundles as explained in my blog article entitled “Symbiote Investments Limited gets DMSL License for Caricel as 5G coming in 2020”. 

Minister of Science, Technology and Energy, the ball is in your court but customers will benefit in the long run.