Kenya is lagging behind South Africa and Nigeria in mobile number portability (MNP) as just 362 in-ports were recorded in the East African nation from January to March 2014.

MNP -- which allows subscribers to change networks while retaining the same number -- was launched in Kenya in April 2011.

But the prevalence of dual-SIM handsets has meant that MNP adoption rates have been low in Kenya.

And a quarterly statistics report released by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) on Monday illustrates how MNP remains sluggish in the country.

“Mobile Number Portability has shown mixed trends over time,” says the CA.

“During the period under review, the number of in-ports increased by 31.2% to stand at 362 in-ports up from 276 in-ports recorded in the previous quarter.

“Conversely, relative to the same period of the previous year, a decline of 26.1% was recorded,” notes the CA.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s Number Portability Company (NPC) -- which is jointly owned by Cell C, MTN, Neotel, Telkom and Vodacom, and which offers mobile and geographic porting services -- posts regular statistics that point to a much higher MNP adoption rate in SA compared to Kenya.

Regulations drafted by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) kicked into gear in 2006 to spur on MNP among telecom providers in SA.

And the NPC notes that the average mobile ports per month since 2006 have hovered around 24,939.

“Since November 2006 to end June 2014 +- 2,269,488 Mobile numbers have been successfully ported including port back and port on numbers,” says the NPC on its website.

Meanwhile, even Nigeria, which launched MNP in 2012, has higher port rates than Kenya.

According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), figures for April 2014 point to how a total of 14,183 outgoing ports were recorded among MTN, Airtel, Glo Mobile and Etisalat during the month.