The Nation Newspaper

Tag: pre-registered

  • NCC to begin prosecution of pre-registered SIM cards hawkers

    NCC to begin prosecution of pre-registered SIM cards hawkers

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday warned that the full weight of the law would be visited on those hawking pre-registered SIM cards in spite of the raids carried out by the commission this year.

    NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management Mr. Sunday Dare, who sounded the warning, insisted that those selling and buying pre-registered SIM cards were breaking the law.

    Dare, who spoke with The Nation on the monitoring of compliance and enforcement of SIM Registration activities by NCC, maintained that imposition of sanctions on perpetrators of illegal activities would continue.

    He said prosecution of offenders would be stepped up in a final push to curb the menace because of its security implications.

    According to him, the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Nigerian Communications Commission and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps will boost operations in this area.

    He added that this year alone, the NCC has imposed about N250 million fines on the telecom operators through the commission’s Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Unit.

    Dare said several joint raids and arrests have also been made.

    “This is a continuous exercise until we get to zero level. There is a renewed push and soon virtually all pre-registered SIM cards will be unplugged from the country’s mobile networks through the new technological solution the commission will soon put in place,” he said.

    A task force set up two weeks ago by NCC is set to announce some drastic measures which may result in huge sanctions on defaulting operators.

    It was discovered that the operators have started to clean up their internal systems in apparent fear that NCC will soon come down hard on them.

  • NCC to service providers: block pre-registered sim cards

    The Nigerian Telecommunications Commission (NCC) has urged mobile telecommunications firms to block pre-registered sim cards.

    The telecoms regulatory body spoke at its  87th consumer outreach  in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    NCC Deputy Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Alhjaji Ismail Adedigba, who chaired the forum, frowned at some of the issues complained about, especially the the existence of pre-registered sim cards, which are believed to be what criminals, especially kidnappers, armed robbers and fraudsters are using to perpetuate crime across the country.

    Adedigba said: ”I expected to hear that all sim cards are registered. But I have issues with Service Providers here, how did we get these pre-registered Sims to start with?

    “I think your networks should have the total number of available lines and the total number of subscribers in your database, and as such you should be able to know which Sims age registered and those that are not registered and automatically deactivate those that are pre-registered and those that are not properly registered.

    “But a situation where are still having pre-registered sim cards with the advancement in technology today, is a surprise to me, and note that a severe punishment awaits any provider whose network is still carrying pre-registered sim cards.”

    The Deputy Director also urged the service providers to step up their services to save some of the frustrations their consumers ate going through because of poor service delivery.

    In an interview with reporters, he reiterated that telecoms mast safe and constitute no health hazard to human beings.

    According to him, there is presently no known cancer case or any other health challenge traceable to telecommunication masts and asked the public to save themself the fear that the electro magnate radiation from the network equipment causes skin cancer or any other type of disease.

    He said: “As a today, there is no health implication, according to the World Health Organization(WHO). So there is no health research and well-known health implication of mast as at today. You should not prevent the service provider from deploying masts. The more masts we have, the better quality service we have.

    “At the NCC, we believe consumer is the king in the palace market. Therefore, the consumer must accord basic rights such as rights to be heard, right to be educated, right to redress as well as right to safety.”

    The Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Alhaji Abdullahi Maikano, said  the programme was meant to bring  the consumers, telecom  service providers and the NCC together to discuss ways they could assist the consumer have value for their money through effective service delivery.

    Maikano said: “The event is one of the initiatives of Nigerian Communications Commission to bring together Telecom Consumers in the urban areas with the Network Operators and the Regulator (NCC) to discuss, proffer solutions to consumer related issues and ensure they have value for money through effective service delivery.”with  the theme: “information and education as a catalyst for consumer protection”.

    Stakeholders at the meeting spared no time in outlining and expressing their various frustrations in the Services being provided by the networks providers in the country describing it as below standard and fraudulent.

    The four major service providers, The MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9mobile (formerly Etisalat) were present at the forum, where subscribers gave them knocks for  poor network connectivity, allotment of one line to more than one subscriber at the same time, to sending of unsubscribed messages/ imposing of charges on unsubscribed messages, activation of pre-registered sim cards among others.

    Each of the service providers took turn to apologise to the subscribers and pledged to turn new leaf.

  • NCC arrests four over sale of pre-registered SIM cards

    NCC arrests four over sale of pre-registered SIM cards

    The Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) yesterday in Dutse, Jigawa State arrested four subscriber identity module (SIM) card dealers over their involvement in the sale of pre-registered SIM cards to the public.

    Its, Head, Enforcement Unit, Mr. Salisu Abdu who spoke to reporters in Dutse, said over 70 pre-registered SIM cards from various service providers were recovered during a raid on Hakimi Street and New Market Street in Dutse.

    He said the operation was as a result of a tip-off over the illegal activities of SIM card dealers in the state, adding that the suspects have already been handed over to security agents for further investigation.

    Abdu said the raid on the two identified areas by his men and security agents took them over two hours to clampdown on the hideouts of the illegal dealers.

  • NCC arrests six for selling pre-registered Sim cards

    NCC arrests six for selling pre-registered Sim cards

    The Nigeria Communications Commission, (NCC), yesterday arrested six men in Kano for being in possession and sale of hundreds of pre-registered SIM cards.

    The suspects were arrested in two separate raids by the NCC operation unit backed by security operatives in the GSM village located at the farm centre and the Yankura market in the metropolis.

    The Head of the NCC operation unit, Mallam Salisu Abdul said the operation became imperative following the rampant sales of pre-registered SIM cards in Kano by unregistered individuals.

    According to him, the sales of pre-registered Sim cards id a criminal offence and the commission will continue to raid markets across the country until we are able to stop such nefarious activities.

  • GSM operators get seven-day ultimatum to deactivate pre-registered SIMs

    GSM operators get seven-day ultimatum to deactivate pre-registered SIMs

    Worried by the seemingly intractable security situation in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has handed down a seven-day ultimatum to Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and other network providers to deactivate all pre-registered Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) cards or face sanctions.

    This was the fallout of a meeting between Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Department of State Service (DSS), the network operators and the NCC. The meeting which took place at the NCC boardroom in Abuja, took into cognizance 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.

    Operators were however told to notify such subscribers before deactivation of their SIM cards.

    At the meeting were the representatives of the NSA, Group Captain, Ibikunle Daramola, DSS, Mr. Godwin Ometu, the immediate past NCC Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Dr Eugene Juwah, Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Engr. Ubale Maska and representatives of MTN, Globacom, Etisalat, Visafone , Airtel and others.

    A statement by NCC Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo who was also at the meeting said specifically that: seven days’ notice is hereby given for deactivation of all invalid/improperly registered SIM cards; these include all SIM cards without or improperly captured facial pictures and or finger – prints; and affected subscribers to be notified to regularize their registrations.

    The meeting resolved that henceforth, all registrations must conform to the Data Dictionary, Technical Specifications on finger prints and facial images and the business rule agreed by all stakeholders; all registration records must be validated before sending to the Commission; thus eliminating all invalid records that does not conform new registrations and indicate same in the monthly reports sent to Commission; it was also resolved that operators will be held liable for cases for cases of pre-registered SIMs; earlier grace of 21 days given by the Commission has lapsed.