Kogan Mobile exodus to strain mobile transfer system

Telco representatives will convene daily over the next month under "extraordinary measures" put in place to cope with the high number of users that must now port away from Kogan Mobile.

Mobile ports are expected to soar as Kogan Mobile closes.

Kogan Mobile's wholesale partner ispONE entered voluntary administration on Monday. Kogan's services ran on the Telstra network, but Telstra refused to cut a deal to continue service provision.

Instead, Telstra gave Kogan Mobile users a maximum of 30 days to find a new mobile service provider.

The exodus of users away from Kogan Mobile is expected to put some strain on Australia's mobile number porting system, which currently caters for around 150,000 transfers a month.

"Industry anticipates that mobile porting volumes will be significantly higher than normal volumes as affected [Kogan] customers make choices about where to relocate their mobile services," the Communications Alliance said in a statement.

"Industry players will meet daily during the coming weeks to monitor porting volumes, assess the emergence of any delays, and to consider whether additional steps need to be taken".

Mobile number portability in Australia is overseen by the Communications Alliance Mobile Number Portability Administration Group.

The group's members include Telstra, Optus, VHA, AAPT, Symbio, Pivotel, Lycamobile and Paradigm One.

Communications Alliance CEO John Stanton said the "extraordinary measures" put in place by industry would ensure that mobile number transfers from Kogan are processed expediently.

"Today more than 90 percent of mobile ports in Australia are completed within three hours," he said.