Kasapa Telecom on Tuesday said the claim by an official of Vodafone Ghana that it is not possible to port a number from a GSM network to a CDMA, was "dead wrong".

"The ability to move phone numbers between CDMA and GSM networks is well established," Mr. Bob Norris Palitz, Managing Director of Kasapa, told the GNA.

He explained that the mobile number portability (MNP) function was carried on between respective switching installations of the operator and not their base stations, which may use different technology.

Mr. Eric Valentine, Head of Technical Systems at Vodafone Ghana, told journalists at a seminar on MNP hosted by Vodafone Ghana that due to the difference in technology between GSM and CDMA, it was currently not possible to port numbers from either network to the other.

"Had Mr. Valentine troubled himself to check with his parent company's head office, he would have learned that Vodafone's major US subsidiary, Verizon Wireless, which uses the same CDMA technology as Kasapa, routinely ports thousands of subscriber numbers to and from competing GSM and CDMA networks," Mr. Palitz said.

There are two main telephony technologies; Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). Kasapa is the only CDMA network in the Ghana competing with five other GSM operators - MTN, Vodafone, Glo Mobile, Tigo and Zain. Kasapa has the longest track record of any network in Ghana with regard to promoting the adoption of MNP, a system through which Ghanaians would be free to choose which mobile network to use, while retaining their original phone number.

"Mr Valentine is woefully misinformed. Why Vodafone Ghana would believe that this technique is unavailable here is a mystery to us," Mr. Palitz said.

He said MNP was vital for Ghana and the years of delay so far were both inexplicable and inexcusable.

"Kasapa welcomes latecomer Vodafone Ghana to this battle, as we appear be on the same side - but the cause is ill-served by the dissemination of demonstrably false statements by Vodafone," Mr Palitz said. He assured the public that when MNP is implemented, everyone would be welcome to bring their old phone numbers to Kasapa.

Source: GNA