NCC and SIM card registration.

AFTER the initial misunderstanding between telecom operators and the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) over the registration of mobile phone users in the country, the NCC seems to have finally gotten involved in the SIM card registration exercise.

The telecom operators had during the first phase of last year, reportedly registered about eight million subscribers. According to the NCC, there are currently 89 million lines in the national telecommunication network. The aim of the NCC is to capture all subscribers in a national telecom database, given the alleged inability of the service providers to do so on time.

To this end, the NCC has contracted Chams, a global technology company, to take on the registration of GSM subscribers. According to the MD/CEO of Chams, Mr. Demola Aladekomo, the company had carried out a pilot exercise in Lagos by registering a few people to test-run its preparedness and efficiency.

But while the NCC is carrying out the registration, the telecom operators are also registering their customers in what looks like a duplication of effort. The multiple registration by all the stakeholders shows that the exercise is not streamlined.

There seems to be a lot of confusion as to how the information captured by the different parties would be harnessed into a central database as expected.

Since the telecom operators are the owners of the SIM cards, shouldn’t they be allowed to register their customers accordingly, as it is done elsewhere? What is the business of NCC, the regulatory body, in registering SIM cards? This duplication effort by the NCC would seem unnecessary.

The NCC got N6 billion from the Federal Government to conduct an exercise which, the telecom operators are carrying out free of charge at their own expense. The service providers have better widespread and are obviously, in a better position to register their subscribers.  The NCC needs to explain why it should spend such huge amount on an exercise that could be part of the normal service operations of the GSM companies.

Besides, SIM card registration is a continuous exercise and not a one-off event as the NCC is proposing. The operators are the ones selling SIM cards on a continuous basis. Ordinarily, the duty of the NCC, as a regulator, should be to provide guidelines and give directives to the providers and not to compete with them in registering subscribers.

The NCC is already threatening to disconnect subscribers who fail to register within six months. One possible reason for setting such deadline is because it has contracted out the exercise and must meet the terms of the contract. But SIM card registration is not something that should be done within a specific time limit. We had advised in a previous editorial that NCC should resist the temptation of setting impossible deadlines. Subscribers should be allowed ample time to register their lines without undue pressure. The six months time limit (June), set by NCC is unrealistic. What happens thereafter? If NCC ends the registration at that point, what about those who would purchase the SIM cards thereafter?

How, for instance, does NCC expect to register the existing 89 million subscribers within six months? There is no point setting a deadline for millions of mobile phone subscribers to register or be disconnected.

NCC should accept its failure to register SIM cards from the outset which is the cause of the build up of subscribers. Having realised, rather late, that these lines need to be registered, subscribers should be given ample time to do so. Nobody’s phone line should be disconnected on this account. Subscribers should also not be harassed.

It would have been much better if NCC had concentrated on ensuring that the exercise is carried out smoothly in view of the benefits of the database to be generated. The envisaged telecom database would not only be useful to the telecommunication sector but to other institutions such as banks and the security agencies.

For the registration exercise to succeed, there should be public enlightenment to sensitise subscribers. The registration should be made less cumbersome. The requirements for registration, which include a National ID Card or International Passport, a Drivers Licence and authenticated letter from the traditional ruler or community leader may prove cumbersome to many Nigerians.

There are millions of people who may not have the approved identification instruments, and who can’t return home to their home community to be identified by local authorities. NCC should consider allowing the GSM service providers to register subscribers and concentrate instead, on its core duty of regulating the industry.