Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the 95.7 million subscribers’ SIM registration declared invalid are undergoing scrubbing and verification.
While giving clarification on a media report which emerged from the Sensitisation Workshop in Port Harcourt, the affected subscribers’ records were being screened to verify biometric and personal information submitted by all operators in respect of each of their subscribers.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the commission explained that so far, 60 million SIM card registrations had been verified successfully.
The NCC said, “Understandably, this needs further clarification for the benefit of subscribers and other critical stakeholders who rely on subscriber registration data.
“The commission, therefore, wishes to clarify that the process of scrubbing registration data submitted by operators is an ongoing one and that so far, over 60 million records have been scrubbed successfully.
“Scrubbing in telecom parlance refers to the screening process of verifying biometric and personal information submitted by all operators in respect of each of their subscribers.”
According to the telecom regulator, the 95.7 million illustrates the quality of initial data submissions, saying subsequent process enhancements by the NCC and operators had led to better quality submissions.
The regulator said the reason for the disclosure on the initial scrubbing exercise was to emphasise the need for subscriber registration agents and operators to ensure strict adherence to the Subscriber Registration Regulations of 2011 as well as the technical specifications for registration.
The statement added, “NCC, however, wishes to use this opportunity to encourage all subscribers to ensure that their details are properly captured in order to avoid unnecessary complications which may affect their banking, educational, health, travel and other pursuits which rely on proof of personal identity.
“We also wish to assure all stakeholders that the commission will continue to aggressively pursue the national interest objectives of delivering an accurate database of telephone subscribers in Nigeria. We expect all players in the subscriber registration value chain to support the national security objectives of the exercise as the NCC will continue to show zero tolerance for deviations from the process.”
