Number portability in Korea

More and more mobile communications companies are forced to allow number portability of their subscribers - not only in the West, but also here in Asia. Number portability basically means, that a subscriber can move to another mobile phone company and takes his or her number along. When this wasn't allowed, carriers had a lock on the subscriber. Who would want to move when there is the hassle to inform friends and business associates about a new number? Business could get lost easily. In addition, this was also more cost-intensive for the subscriber, since initial sign-up fees needed to be paid.

In effect, it frequently allowed companies to treat their customers badly - those who signed up earlier had to live with bad service, and expensive call plans while those who signed up later had at least the advantage of choosing a cheaper call plan.

Number portability destroys this lock on the subscribers - and companies don't like it, assuming, it increases churn, as can be seen in the discussion in Korea. There are complaints of carriers about illegal marketing tactics and practices - but this is not the important issue for companies.

When number portability is introduced, carriers need to deliver on services, and innovation. It is not enough to start a pricewar, because every other company can sooner or later match the lower price. So, once again, number portability is good for the consumer, and in the end, those companies which don't realise the importance of service delivery will fail, ultimately.