NCC to punish telcos over pre- registered sim cards

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Nigerian Telecommunications Commission (NCC) has ordered mobile telecommunications firms to block pre-registered SIM cards, believed to be what criminals, especially kidnappers, armed robbers and fraudsters are using to perpetuate crime across the country.

Ismail Adedigba, NCC deputy director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, also warned that severe punishment awaits any provider whose network is still carrying pre-registered sim card

Adedigba, who chaired the commission’s 87th consumer outreach in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, frowned at complaints about the existence of pre-registered sim cards insisting that ”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 are going through because of poor service delivery.

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 at 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.”