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The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the experiences with the implementation of mobile number portability (MNP).

The paper presents a structured review of global experiences from markets where MNP has been introduced.

The paper finds that results have been disappointing, apparently arising from complex regulatory processes and sub‐optimal implementation.

The paper has a lack of sufficient analysis of the effects on competition.

The paper highlights the need to measure national performance against global best practice and for NRAs to share experiences.

The paper is much broader in scope than previously published work in the area of MNP.

The purpose of the paper is to identify policy strategies for the implementation of number portability in Central America. It attempts to determine why carriers have generally been opposed to the implementation of this service and what regulators in the region can do to allow for the provision of this service.

Using secondary data this paper provides an analysis of the economic and regulatory circumstances prevailing in Central America that will affect their number portability decisions.

The conceptual piece of this paper identifies the negative economic incentives such as scale economies and revenue losses that will motivate carriers to delay implementation or increase switching costs for users through fees, long‐term contracts, and quality deterioration of telecommunication services.

Given the economic circumstances of the telecommunications sector in Central America, it is recommended that the region begin with national implementations with plans for a regional deployment. User switching fees should be kept low and number portability should be required of both wired and wireless providers.

Several original ideas are presented in the paper. First, it identifies the economic disincentives that carriers have to implement number portability. Second, it focuses on a region that receives little scholarly attention in spite of the fact that many things can be learned from their experiences and third, it suggest a regional implementation of number portability which has not been done anywhere else in the world.

This study seeks to investigate the effect of mobile number portability (MNP) on mobile subscribers in Korea by focusing on subscribers' perception and behavior related to MNP.

The study collected data on subscribers who had changed mobile carriers between the beginning of MNP (July 2003) and December 2005. The data were analyzed by statistical analyses such as ANOVA and logistic regression.

Statistical analyses in this study reveal that subscribers perceive the switching barrier still as high, discouraging subscribers from switching carriers. While MNP lowered switching costs considerably, a significant level of switching costs still remains despite MNP. Carriers develop new subscriber lock‐in strategies that make them stay with current carriers. In addition, there are hidden costs other than MNP that should burden subscribers with number portaling.

The findings imply that the MNP has directly affected the industries to a greater extent than subscribers, which suggests implications for both regulators and industries: how to effectively enforce MNP to achieve the intended goals and how to achieve competitive advantage with MNP.

This research is particularly interested in investigating the effect of the introduction of MNP on subscribers' behaviors and perceptions, and therefore their motivations for changing or remaining with mobile carriers (operators) with the introduction of MNP. Although there have been many studies looking at the effect of number portability on competition at the industry level, little attention has been shown on the individual level such as subscribers' behavior or perception.

Several studies of the telecommunications industry have focused on government regulation and structural conditions, suggesting that initial order of entry and network effects create strong first‐mover advantages for GSM companies. This paper seeks to change the focus to managerial capabilities and to investigate how an early mover on the Turkish market manages the phase of vigorous competition following the early‐regulated period.

The paper is a case study of one leading firm in the context of the Turkish telecommunications market development. The most important sources for data are Telepati Telekom Journal, Turkcell Annual Reports, Telecommunications Authority of Turkey's publications, the reports of investment institutions, web pages of operators, and previous publications about the Turkish telecom industry.

The paper finds that the early mover, Turkcell, has used a mix of differentiated marketing strategies, innovative and diversified product development and increased service quality to defend its position in an era of increased competition with new operators, a high number of pre‐paid customers and number portability.

On the basis of this case, the paper argues that studies of the telecommunications industry need to expand their analyses of industry structures to also include firm‐specific strategies and management capabilities.

This paper aims to examine the extent to which telecommunications consumers decide to switch and why.

Results from surveys of consumer switching behaviour in a number of countries are examined to ascertain reasons for actual consumer decision making regarding switching.

Implications for telecommunications regulation are considered. In essence, regulation should require that communications service providers ensure that switching is fast, cheap, predictable and reliable and that consumers are able to switch with minimum difficulty and delay.

The ability and willingness to switch from one to another supplier of telecommunications and internet services are an important aspect in manifesting consumer empowerment. In turn, empowered consumers are important for sustainable competition. If consumers are inert and passive, suppliers will not be under pressure to deliver the potential benefits of competition. And it is empowered assertive consumers, able and willing to switch, who will exert pressure on suppliers to deliver these benefits. Thus, in making well‐informed choices between suppliers, consumers not only benefit from competition but also initiate and sustain it.

Insights from behavioural economics are incorporated in the analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the determinant factors of switching behavior in the Thai cellular market before the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) policy is implemented.

A binary logit model and individual survey data from the National Telecommunications Commission 2009 are used to estimate the intention of mobile phone consumers to switch.

The results show that subscriber characteristics, including age, government officer, self‐employed, internet use, central region, and southern region, are significant in explaining the switching behavior of Thai mobile subscribers. They also indicate that the mobile operators' customers are confronted with different switching costs. The subscribers of the largest mobile operator have the highest switching costs. This study also shows that the largest mobile operators will gain more switching subscribers than smaller operators. The implementation of MNP will help to lower the switching costs of smaller mobile operators rather than of larger operators, as the subscribers of smaller operators are more likely to switch and move to larger mobile operators, as the larger operators provide better quality network coverage. The study shows that the expected impact of implementing MNP without national mobile roaming regulations would be worse for smaller mobile operators. The smaller operators need to compete on both price and quality improvement. In the short run, it would not be possible for the smaller operators to compete with the larger operators due to the inequality in the quality of network coverage.

The result is useful to developing countries considering implementing MNP regulation.

The purpose of this article is to identify policy issues arising from discrepancies between the various sources of numbers of customers for mobile networks.

This paper reviews and analyzes a range of statistics, and then draws out policy implications.

Survey data report much lower numbers of customers than operators, indicating delays in achieving MDGs and market distortions.

There is a lack of data on the reasons for ownership of multiple mobile SIM cards.

There is a need for more extensive surveys to identify reasons for ownership of multiple mobile SIM cards. The analysis can be incorporated into policy and regulatory decision making.

The paper takes an analytic approach, suggesting areas for further work.

Aims to provide a comprehensive review of the impressive development of mobile communications in the Asia‐Pacific region, and identify the key factors behind their fast growth. Provides a general review of the rapid development of mobile communications in the Asia‐Pacific region – a revolutionary growth bringing significant socio‐economic benefits to developing and developed economies in this region.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the effects of structural and bonding attachment on brand loyalty. The authors identified network quality, network coverage and mobile number portability (MNP) as structural elements of attachment that affect brand loyalty. Similarly, the authors identify brand trust and social interaction ties as elements of bonding-based attachment that affects brand loyalty.

The authors employed a survey as the research design. There were 500 respondents who were customers of telecommunication network brands in Ghana. Data collected were analyzed using the partial least square approach to structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) on SmartPLS 3.

The findings indicate that structural and bonding-based attachments affect the brand loyalty. Specifically, the authors found that network coverage, network quality, brand trust and social interaction ties have positive effects on brand loyalty while MNP has a negative effect on brand loyalty.

This study conceptualizes attachment from both structural and bonding perspectives, which are rare in the marketing literature. Thus, this study advances the conceptualization of attachment in the marketing literature.

This study aims to analyze how the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market in Korea will evolve, the opportunities and/or threats of network operators and how the MVNO market will be forged in the future.

This study provides competitive analysis, market evaluation and current regulatory assessment of the Korean MVNO marketplace.

While there are many positive prospects of MVNO in Korea, a series of complicated techno‐economic issues arise.

The current development of MVNO sheds light on the growing challenges of the dynamics of industry, regulation and technology.

While MVNOs continue to flourish in some markets, their diffusion in other regions is often very limited and continues to drastically decrease.

The results suggest a sustainable ecosystem of MVNO and propose an appropriate policy to promote MVNO diffusion.