With number portability now ensured (that is, people can keep their mobile phone number even if they switch from one operator to the other) and with so many schemes to entice subscribers to switch to the competing provider, people would do well to first check if their mobile phone has not been blocked by the company from which they purchased or obtained their phone.

Based on real experiences of people who switched without checking, they faced paying Lm20 just to unblock their mobile (and even so, they had to wait two days for this to be done, and the Lm20 refunded by the provider they moved to over a period of four months!). Alternatively, if they decided to stay with their old provider, they had a two full months wait.