NCC warns Telecom coy on sale of registered SIM cards

The Nigerian Communications Commission has warned the telecommunication companies, SIM registration agents and dealers over the sale of pre-registered SIM cards as it pose threat to national security.

The NCC director of Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, Mr. Efosa Idehen, who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Salihu Abdu gave the warning while speaking during a one-day regional sensitisation workshop on “Dangers of Dealing on Fraudulently Activated SIM cards”, on Tuesday in Gombe

He said the objective of subscriber registration was basically to assist in easy identification of mobile telephone users, adding that Nigeria is not alone in this because throughout the world, connectivity is creating huge opportunities for citizens.

Mr. Idehen said that some agents of mobile network operators produced fully activated SIM cards with fraudulent details and sale same to customers.

He said :“Such an act is totally unacceptable. NCC has arrested some agents and they have been charged to court. We are not going to compromise on the issue of driving those involved in the practice out of market.”

 “Some unscrupulous people abuse the connectivity to make life difficult for others, hence the need to carry out basic `Know-Your-Customer processes on our users.

“Unfortunately, the subscriber registration journey has not been as smooth as it should be, given the very comprehensive efforts that went into the design of the process.

“It is painful to note that we still have cases of sale of `pre-registered’ Subscriber Identification Module cards, cases of breach of SIM registration processes, fraudulent registrations and other breaches.

“To address these concerns, the NCC organised several meetings and sensitisation workshops with different stakeholder groups across the industry at different points in time.

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