The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has warned telecom subscribers in the country to desist from buying or using preregistered SIM.
Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Proffesor Umar Dambatta, who gave the warning over the weekend at the ongoing Abuja International Trade Fair, said that the reasons behind the directive is that the issue of pre -registered SIM is of major concern to the commission.
“The attention of the commission is drawn to this minute and the commission is doing all to address this situation,” he said.
Dambatta, who was represented by the Head of Public Relations in the commission, Mr. Reuben Muoka, noted that the Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department of the commission has commenced nationwide search with law enforcement agency on the perpetrators of this act in order to bring
them to book.
“The commission has sent directives to all service providers to make sure that their agents are not used to perpetrate the fraud, urging the consumers to be weary of the fraudsters to avoid being victims of circumstances,” he remarked.
The executive vice chairman advised members of the public to desist from buying or using pre-registered SIM and to report anybody buying or selling pre-registered SIM.
On curbing the spate of sabotage in the system, he said the commission is proposing partnership with the public to prevail on some local communities, individuals and families who stop service providers from maintaining their sites or extending network to other locations to desist from such acts as it contributes to low quality service.
“We are delighted that in spite of the current economic outlook, the telecom industry is performing excellently. As at August, the numbers of our subscribers was more than 152 million and the internet penetration has continued to rise with more than 97million.
“Nigeria has achieved more than 20 per cent penetration as supported by the International Telecommunications Union ITU. It shows that we are getting nearer to the 3,18 target of the 30 per cent broadband penetration,” Dambatta said.
He added that the trade fair was a good opportunity to meet with subscribers and that every year, the commission comes with latest solution.
He said: “The commission has also come up with a code for unsolicited messages of ‘Do Not Disturb Code’ that would enable the average consumers who do not want such messages.”
He said the issue of “Do Not Disturb Code” is a serious matter, as some clients have been complaining about the act, promising that “the telecom industry will continue to add value to our lives and our economy.”
