NCC starts registration of SIM Cards
Written by Inalegwu Shaibu  
Saturday, 04 April 2009


The Nigerian Communications Communication (NCC) will from next July commence the registration of all SIM cards the operational software running GSM mobile phones in the country.

GSM mobile phone users who fail to register their cards at the end of the registration exercise in December will be disconnected in the first quarter of 2010, the executive vice chairman of the commission, Engineer Ernest Ndukwe disclosed as part of the commission’s plans to give credibility in the identification process for mobile phone usage in the country.

Engr. Ndukwe spoke at a one day retreat of the Senate Committee on Communications in Kaduna just as the Committee chairman, Senator Sylvester Anyanwu tasked the commission to protect the citizenry from the exploitative tendencies of GSM operators.

“What we are doing is to get a situation where there is some form of credibility in the identification process that we can bank with. We have actually announced processes on when this will end,’’ Ndukwe said yesterday.
“In the next three months, people will be required to provide some form of identification before they get SIM cards.

But at the end of the year, we are giving enough time for those who are current users can go and register with a good identity instrument that is bankable, that we can put in a data base.

“Once that is done, I think January or February; we’ll give a date which will be a cutoff date. If you have not registered your SIM card by then, you’ll be automatically cut off from the network.”

Engineer Ndukwe however fears that there may be a slight delay when the program takes off due to the absence of an authentic identity data in the country.

He said, “On the issue of SIM card registration, direction has not been issued by the regulator that is true because the law requires us to go through some consultation process which we are going through. But one major thing, we need an authentic identification process. The law is not meant for law abiding citizens, they are meant to catch criminals.”

Earlier in his remark, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Anyanwu stated that NCC must put in place measures to address problems associated with interconnectivity.

He stressed that the NCC must be in the fore front of ensuring that Nigerians are protected from exploitative tendencies of GSM operators in the country.

Explaining that the retreat was designed to help the senators acquaint themselves with the working knowledge of the telecommunication sector, as it prepares to amend the NCC act of 2003, senator Anyanwu said the Senate would enact an effective legislation that would both guarantee the rights of the people and also boast investment and growth of the sector.

Compulsory registration of sim cards is not enforced on pay-as-you -go sims in the UK. Instead some mobile service providers reward customers with a few pounds credit that will be sent to their address if they register their sim online.
NCC just wants to waste resources on this sim registration.

@poster,
though it may not be important in the uk, in germany, it is important - so, let us not bas our discusion on that . (though i dont support the idea of registration too)

PeeDaVinci:

@poster,
though it may not be important in the uk, in germany, it is important - so, let us not bas our discusion on that . (though i dont support the idea of registration too)

Is true they do it in Germany but you can still buy sim without your identity in Germany. Its good anyway but the workability is minimal in Nigeria. What will they use as ID as not everybody has the NID in naija. How will they check that the ID presented to them is Original and not from Olowale?

another way to chop money

.

If used right, this could work out really well, especially in the war against corruption.

i have no issue with this one.

angel01:


Compulsory registration of sim cards is not enforced on pay-as-you -go sims in the UK. Instead some mobile service providers reward customers with a few pounds credit that will be sent to their address if they register their sim online.
NCC just wants to waste resources on this sim registration.

how is it a waste of resources? this should be standard practice by the operators

angel01:


Compulsory registration of sim cards is not enforced on pay-as-you -go sims in the UK. Instead some mobile service providers reward customers with a few pounds credit that will be sent to their address if they register their sim online.
NCC just wants to waste resources on this sim registration.

people dont use pay as you go sims to commit the level of crime in the uk like it is used in nigeria,moreover if you look at the positives that ll be accrued by compulsory registration of sims in nigeria compared to the negatives,you ll note the positives massively outweight the negatives

lucabrasi:

people dont use pay as you go sims to commit the level of crime in the uk like it is used in nigeria,moreover if you look at the positives that ll be accrued by compulsory registration of sims in nigeria compared to the negatives,you ll note the positives massively outweight the negatives

I agree with Lucabrasi! Using PAYG sims to commit crime here is 'minimal' when compared to Naija. As a student, i worked for one of the high street telecom retailers and you will be surprised that those sim's that are not registered to someone are very few when compared to those that are registered. If you happen to have one of those sims that is not registered, once you place a call to the customer care number with any queries or additions concerning that particular sim, your details will definately be asked for - and i can say that in the UK, it is almost a must for most people to call the customer care regarding one Value Added Service (MMS, Picture messaging, etc) or the other.

Its about time NCC does this and i like the idea.

Another development i would welcome from NCC is the ability to track the location of phones that are in operation. With this, they would be able to 'listen' in and apprehend particular suspects who have committed one crime or the other.