The Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Act has encouraged more competitive behavior among mobile service providers (MSPs) in attracting and retaining subscribers, based on the competition impact assessment by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).
The anti-trust body conducted an assessment whether or not the MNP law has helped foster competition and expand consumer choice in the telecommunications (telco) sector.
In favorable assessment, PCC said the law developed online channels where subscribers can find information on the benefits of switching to their services (e.g., new product offerings and promotional packages).
Enacted in 2019, the law enables network subscribers to retain their mobile numbers when switching between MSPs free of charge.
In its study, PCC cited data from Telecommunications Connectivity, Inc. (TCI), the “clearing house” of MNP porting (or switching) applications, which showed that there has been a significant influx of subscribers switching to the third major telco player (DITO) during the first ten months of implementation. However, this trend declined in subsequent months.
The overall uptake of MNP services has been low, with less than 0.1 percent of registered mobile numbers availing themselves of porting services (i.e., switching from one MSP to another, or from prepaid to postpaid and vice versa) during the first three years of implementation.
Of the annual porting capacity of 10 million slots, more than 99 percent remain unused.
A survey conducted in 2024 revealed that 80 percent of respondents were not familiar with the law. One-third of those respondents indicated that they would likely switch providers if they were aware that the MNP existed.
The competition impact assessment (CIA) study recommends the conduct of joint awareness campaigns to reintroduce the MNP Act to the public and the revisiting of the current porting capacities to minimize costs associated with unused slots.
Ultimately, the CIA underscores the importance of safeguards against anti-competitive risks, including abuse of dominance, discriminatory practices, and the misuse of subscriber data.
This CIA forms part of PCC’s broader mandate to evaluate government regulations and advocate for pro-competitive policies under the National Competition Policy’s whole-of-government approach.
