A Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered all
the major telecommunications service
providers in the country to appear before it on
September 17, 2015, to justify the
disconnection of mobile lines of certain
subscribers in the country.
The National Communications Commission
had reportedly given a seven-day ultimatum,
starting from August 4, 2015, to the major
telecoms operators in the country to
deactivate unregistered lines with invalidity
status.
The order was reportedly hinged on
intelligence reports that several attacks carried
out by the Boko Haram insurgents in the
North-East and the Federal Capital Territory,
Abuja, were coordinated with the use of
unregistered mobile lines.
The deactivation directive had followed a
meeting of the Office of the National Security
Adviser, the Department of State Services and
the NCC to examine the security threats posed
by unregistered Subscriber Identification
Modules.
But on Wednesday, Justice Mohammed
Yunusa ordered the appearance of the
telecoms companies after declining granting
an ex parte application seeking the immediate
reactivation of all deactivated mobile lines.
The nine applicants in the suit, including a
Lagos-based lawyer, Olayinka Oyeniyi, said
they instituted the action on behalf of
themselves and all other subscribers in the
country who had been subjected to
inconvenience following the deactivation of
their lines.
The applicants claimed that they had suffered
extreme anguish, having been rendered
incommunicado to their loved ones and
business interests.
They also claimed that their rights to dignity
of human person had been injured following
automated voice message left on their lines
informing callers that they had been barred
for incomplete registration.
The applicants, who claimed to have dutifully
registered their lines by furnishing the
telecoms service providers with their complete
biodata few years ago when they purchased
the SIMs, contended that it was unjust and
unwarranted for their lines to be so
deactivated without any prior notice.
They said their lines were deactivated in spite
of the fact that over the years, the telecoms
companies had continued to give out their
particulars to marketing companies which
inundated them with unsolicited calls and text
messages, while the telecoms companies
made profit without respecting the applicants’
rights to privacy.
They prayed for an order mandating the
respondents to immediately reconnect and
restore their lines, in addition to an interim
injunction restraining them from further
barring the lines pending the determination of
their suit.
They urged the court to prohibit the telecoms
companies from broadcasting unsolicited SMS
and short codes to the applicants’ mobile
phones in violation of their rights to privacy.
Besides, the applicants want the court to
compel the management of the telecoms
companies to give the details of the income
generated through bulk SMS, short codes and
other related SMS-based services from 2012
till date in accordance with Order 44, Rule 4
of the Civil Procedure Rules 2009.
But rather than grant the prayers sought by
the applicants, Justice Yunusa said it was in
the interest of justice to give the telecoms
companies the opportunity to justify their
actions.
The judge ordered that hearing notices should
be issued on the respondents, while he
adjourned till September 17, 2015 for them to
appear.
The respondents in the suit are Airtel Nigeria
Limited, MTN Nigeria Communications
Limited, Etisalat Nigeria and Globacom
Limited.
http://www.punchng.com/news/court-summons-telecoms-operators-over-deactivated-lines/