 |
Commission flags off SIM card registration project
Uche Iheanacho and Adoba Echno, Abuja
The Nigerian Communications Commissions, NCC, has commenced a nation-wide campaign to sensitize Nigerians of the need to register their mobile phone number with their various subscribers.
NCC Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Eugene Juwah on Monday in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital while flagging off the project says:
“it marks a major step taken by the NCC, to bequeath to our dear nation, an important tool, a pool of data that will assist other agencies of government, especially the security agencies, and the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC in carrying out their jobs in the national interest”.
Dr. Juwah said the Sim Card registration would begin simultaneously across Nigeria, adding that deployments of materials have begun nationwide with some expected challenges which the NCC will overcome.
The NCC says “…the importance of Sim Card registration cannot be overemphasised, especially in time of social, political and economic development and the need to mitigate the current security challenges perpetrated through the use of mobile phones.
NO EXEMPTION
Nigeria currently has over 89 million active lines in the national telecommunications network, which they plan to register in the central data base.
The registration exercise will last for a period of six months and registration centres has been deployed all over the country and all subscribers will find a centre close to their abode to register their Sim Cards, the NCC says.
No Nigerian, or visitor to Nigeria, using mobile phones, is exempted from this exercise, the NCC says. At the end of six months from the commencement of the registration, all unregistered Sim Cards will be disconnected from the various networks.
The Nigerian National Communication Commission, NCC says they arrived at this point after a wide range of consultations with all the relevant stakeholders resulting in the establishment of a common standard platform for biometric method of Sim Registration and the institution of the necessary regulation guiding the nationwide registration of Sim Cards.
Recent deregulation of the mobile phone market has led to the introduction of Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) network providers operating on the 900/1800 MHz spectrum, MTN Nigeria, Zain, Globacom and Mtel.
Use of cell-phones have soared, and have mostly replaced the unreliable services of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).
The current estimate lies at about 45.5 million mobile phones as at August 2007, with most people having more than one cellphone.
Nigeria's telecom regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), introduced the Unified Licensing Regime with the expiration of the exclusivity period of the main GSM network providers.
It is hoped that the telecoms with the unified licence would be able to provide fixed and mobile telephony, Internet access as well as any other communications service they choose to offer.
|
