Telecom Operators Want NCC to Extend Time for Normalising SIM Registration

Fri, Mar 4, 2016
By publisher
5 MIN READ

BREAKING NEWS, Business

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The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria wants the Nigerian Communications Commission to give it more time to normalise SIM registration before deactivating lines or subscribers

By Anayo Ezugwu  |  Mar 14, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT  |

THE Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, is asking the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to allow subscribers a window of time to normalise their SIM registrations. This is because network providers are disconnecting some telecom subscribers over irregular SIM registrations.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON, in an interview in Lagos, recently, said his association made a representation to NCC on the need for this window of time for subscribers with SIM registration issues and is waiting for the commission’s response. “We have written to the NCC on what we think should be the process for data collection and disconnection of subscribers. Now that we are faced with these problems, we will continue to deal with them. We referred to the issue NCC raised about invalid and improperly registered SIM cards which we have been directed not to be activated on any network. We agreed; we have no objections whatsoever.

“We also agreed totally that all data we collect will be domiciled with the commission. In essence, whatever data we collect from our subscriber with respect to their privacy, we will ship them to the commission. We do have few concerns about the process and we have recommended that where SIM registration records are rejected, as a result of invalid records, we should be given a period of two weeks, to notify the subscriber before we disconnect him/her. Because what we are told now is that when we gather the data and send to the central database, once they discover any missing item, NCC asks you to disconnect them.

So, we are saying, give us a declaration on the data considered improperly done within the number of days. Give us that window of time to at least involve the subscriber and normalise the data. This is critical to avoid disconnecting the subscriber who may have come with good intentions to give his/her data. During that period, we will tell the person you cannot make call, but can only receive; so, we can call the subscriber to comply with the process. But, if within the window of time the subscriber fails to comply, then we disconnect other services,” he stated.

Adebayo also expressed reservation over the economic burden place on telecommunications operators to collect high level data from subscribers that involve biometrics as if operators are data collection agency of government which has an agency saddle with such responsibility. “No operator has received one kobo for SIMs registration. No network received any kobo from the NCC or whosoever for the purpose of SIM registration. All the monies are provided, from end-to-end, by the service providers.

“The question should be thrown back to those who received the appropriation, not we the operators. Imagine how much the operators are spending in the present economic situation to register over 120 million subscribers. The cost is huge, in terms of hardware. There is also the cost of human capital. The operators created registration centres across the country. You need to calculate how much INEC has used in voters’ registration.”

On the timing of the representation, Adebayo said: “We couldn’t have said this much before now to avoid being accused of not supporting the process. It was better for us to run a follow up; define the issues and talk about it. If I had said these about a year ago, they would have said ‘go and register before complaining’. Today, we have fully complied with all required of us. We have disconnected the lines that are not properly registered as ordered by the regulator.

“Now, we have identified the issues and seeking for the way forward. Also, if we had made this statement about a year ago, people would have asked us to demand for funds from the government, but we have not looked at that. We are doing what the law requires should be done as directed by the federal government through the commission. We are still going forward to put things in the right perspective. If the data are integrated to the national database, it will help even in security. Due to the biometrics involved, it will be easier to identify people. So, in the era we are, it is disheartening to have multiple lines of data collection without an identified national database.”

NCC had on August 5, 2015, issued a seven-day ultimatum to all telecom operators and other network providers to deactivate all pre-registered SIM cards or face sanctions. According to the commission, the directive was sequel to seemingly intractable security situation in the country and crimes committed against members of the public either by kidnappers, terrorists, robbers and threats to lives, through the use of such unregistered SIM cards across all the networks.

It noted that while more than 120 million SIM cards have been registered and transmitted to the central database by the operators, about 45 percent of the total numbers of registered SIMs, as at September 2014, were deemed invalid, adding that less than 30 percent of the invalid records has been resubmitted for correction till date.

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