NCC Undecided on Ban on Unregistered Sim Cards

Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) at the weekend told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that it is still undecided when to stop unregistered Subscriber Identification Module (Sim) cards from working on any network in the country.
But the commission said that the first three months beginning from May 1, will serve as transition period, during which unsold Sim packs with resellers are expected to have been exhausted.
Though operators have commenced the registration of new Sim cards, the NCC insists that all old Sim cards must be done away with first.
Reuben Mouka, head, public affairs told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that the process of registering any Sim would take the format of the national identity card registration where the biometrics of subscribers is required.
NCC believes that if all Sim cards are registered, it will become easy to track whoever uses GSM phone for criminal activities.
But as he spoke, Steven Evans, chief executive officer of Etisalat, said registering over 70 million existing subscribers is no small task, adding that adequate time should be given to telcos to register their own subscribers.
He said telcos in South Africa were given nearly18 months to register subscribers. “If you looke at what happened in South Africa, the companies there were given nearly18 months in order to register all of their existing customers because it takes a whole lot of time, resources and efforts.”
The Etisalat boss called on the NCC to embark on enlightenment campaign to educate subscribers on the need to register their Sim cards which will go a long way to gain the cooperation of subscribers.