It was French sculptor Auguste Rodin who said: “Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.” It would be interesting to get his take on the advent of number portability in this country. To say that the powers that regulate our telecoms industry have squandered much in terms of time and resources to get us to the point at which we now have mobile number portability is a gross understatement. Alas, it appears they will continue to penalise users well into the future.

Internationally, neither mobile nor fixed-line number portability has been shown to have any negative effects on network operators. It is telling, therefore, that in South Africa, mobile number portability was finally achieved so reluctantly and with such poor grace.