For Nigerians who wish to change from one GSM company to another while still retaining their cherished phone number, the long-awaited opportunity is finally here as the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme takes off today.

Under the sheme being introduced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the over 113 million customers of the country’s four mobile companies (Airtel, MTN, Glo and Etisalat) can change network at no cost while still retaining their favourite existing number irrespective of the network from which they originally obtained the number.

The NCC has decreed that the process must be completed within 48 hours and has set up the Interconnect Clearing House to manage the scheme.

Below is a simplified meaning of MNP and how it works:

•To leave your present network or GSM company, you are said to “port out” of that very network while you “port into” or join the network/GSM company of your choice.

•You do not need to go to or inform your present network (referred to as the donor network) that you want to leave it; rather, all you have to do is go to the nearest office or friendship centre of the network you want to port into or join (known as the receiver network).

•You will be asked relevant questions and be given a form to fill, after which you will be given a new SIM card by the company you wish to join or port into.

•Having requested a change of network and received a new SIM, your old SIM will be deleted, meaning that your phone will not work until the new SIM is activated by your new network. This should not take more than a few hours.

•The network you are leaving has no right to contact you or seek to stop you. Any such action should be reported to the Interconnect Clearing House, which will sanction the offending network.

•Having successfully changed network, you must stay with the new network for at least 90 days before you can switch to another network.

*Photo shows NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Eugene Juwah.