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During the past year and the entire period of MNP (the service was launched in 2019), lifecell confidently holds the lead in terms of the number of numbers transferred from the networks of other operators, according to NKEK statistics.
The service of transferring a number with its complete preservation, including the code to another mobile operator (MNP — Mobile Number Portability), has been operating in Ukraine for the fifth year. During the entire period of its provision (from May 1, 2019 to February 1, 2024), 402,972 numbers were transferred to various networks. “Kyivstar” lost the most in absolute numbers, but if you take into account the scale of each operator, then most often subscribers flee from Vodafone Ukraine.
According to NKEK statistics, the demand for the service grows steadily every year — only the year 2022, which is associated with a full-scale invasion of Russia, stands out from the general trend.
Since the launch of the MNP service, lifecell has remained the absolute leader in the number of numbers transferred to the network. Thus, during the entire period of operation of the service, more than 261,000 subscribers of other operators switched to lifecell — almost 65% of all “defectors”. Only in the first month of 2024, there were 17,985 applications to change the operator, of which 13,963 were about switching subscribers to lifecell. Most often, MNP subscribers who switch to lifecell choose the tariffs “Free Life”, “Smart Life” and the regional tariff “Possible”.
As for lifecell’s leadership in the number of ported numbers, the operator’s numerous initiatives to simplify everything as much as possible (it was the first to introduce the possibility of porting without visiting stores and the transition to eSIM with number retention, and constant discounts and promotions – in fact, in new at tariffs for business, the operator offers “defectors” half the subscription fee on an ongoing basis, and as part of the “Superfreeze” promotion (valid until March 31, 2024), MNP subscribers can fix a reduced price until the end of the year.
Lifecell recently sued Vodafone over the “Number Save” service – the plaintiff believes that the service is contrary to the requirements of current law, and that Vodafone is abusing it and thus not letting subscribers who want to switch MNP operators. In this context, the statistics on the total number of applications for porting the MNP number are quite interesting.
How many subscribers of the “big three” mobile operators (Kyivstar, Vodafone and lifecell)? Here are the data as of October 1, 2023 (according to the results of 2023, the operators have not yet had time to report):
○ “Kyivstar” – 24 million subscribers;
○ Vodafone Ukraine – 15.2 million subscribers;
○ lifecell – 9.1 million subscribers.
Taking into account the data above, a little more than 400,000 transferred numbers over a period of 5 years is not particularly impressive. Actually, this is quite expected – from the beginning, there were not so many people who wanted to change the operator. But this does not mean that the MNP service is useless (on the contrary, such an option will never hurt). But this does not mean that the MNP service is useless (on the contrary, such an option will never hurt).
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