Nigeria - SIM card registration scheme is attacked by operators and customers

[daily trust] The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)'s new SIM card registration scheme, which seeks to make registration of all SIM cards in the country compulsory before activation effective from May 1, may not see the light of the day given the telecoms operators' attitude towards it and the subscribers' lack of awareness.

Hajia Folake, who runs a small restaurant in a shack in Abuja's Jabi Motor Park, has lost count of number of telephone lines she has used since Nigeria's mobile telephony took off in 2001. She has never done a 'SIM swap' or 'Welcome Back', a system that allows mobile phone users to keep their numbers even when they lose their phones.

In a country where a subscriber could simply buy a new SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) pack on the streets, going through the hassle of doing a 'SIM Swap' or 'Welcome Back' just does not make any economic sense - it costs more money and the red tape involved does not make things any easier either.

"What I do whenever I lose my phone is just to rush to the market and obtain another GSM line and phone," Folake says.

"I simply don't have the time to start going to GSM operator's office to retrieve any lost line and I certainly can't spare the extra cash."

But she does not know that starting 1 May 2010, SIM Packs will no longer be available on Nigerian streets. Or so, the government hopes. Under a new SIM Card registration policy, the state-owned telephony regulator, the NCC hopes to compile a database of all mobile phone users in the country by ensuring that new subscriptions, starting 1 May 2010 supply key information about themselves before new phone lines could be sold to them.

And that is only a part of the problem.

"Are they saying that we are not going to buy SIM cards in the market again? Folake challenged, irritation evident in her voice. "Why did they say that? I don't think the plan will work because a lot of us are not aware and we have not been told anything to that effect by the government," she said.

For Abdullah Adamu, 38, a roving date trader in Abuja, the only item of literature in his entire house in Kubwa, a suburb on the Western outskirts of Nigeria's capital, is the user's guide leaflet that came with his mobile line when he bought it a few years ago. He is neither able to read not write.

Apart from her name and, probably, her home and shop addresses, Mrs Beatrice Andrew, who runs a roadside bean cake restaurant in Abuja's Area one, does not have any form of legal identification document.

She has not been given her national identity card even though she registered for it some years ago. And she does not believe that as a Nigerian, she ought to have her data registered by the government, anyway.

Folake, Adamu and Andrew are only three out of, probably, millions of other Nigerians who may find it difficult to comply with the new government directive that all SIM Cards be registered in the country, with effect from May 1, 2010, for the simple reason that they may not be able to supply any valid identification documents to be able to register for the new scheme as being demanded by NCC. This is apart from the fact that most Nigerians mobile phone users are not even aware of the new SIM registration scheme.

NCC, in December last year, directed all telecoms companies operating in the country to put all necessary arrangements in place for the smooth take off of the SIM registration, which is aimed at improving security in the country. It said valid identification documents like E- Passports, corporate/company or work place identity cards that contain Pension Identification /Tax Numbers, student ID cards from recognized institutions as well drivers' license issued by the Federal Road Safety Commission, (FRSC) and E-Tax cards, would be required for those seeking registration of their SIM cards.

But since December when the commission announced the new scheme and pegged the deadline for registration on March 1 and later shifted it to May 1, many subscribers believed that NCC has done virtually nothing to raise awareness on new scheme and how it would be carried out.

"With effect from May 1, 2010, all new SIM Cards in Nigeria must be registered before activation" the NCC said in a statement earlier in March. "The NCC, in exercise of its regulatory functions as provided for by the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, wishes to inform the general public and all the relevant stakeholders that arrangements have been concluded for the commencement of registration of all SIM Card Holders in Nigeria.

"The registration process will include the capture of the photograph and biometrics of the subscriber. Proxy registration shall be restricted to the direct families of persons seeking registration. The Commission has directed all telecom operating companies to put all necessary arrangements in place for the smooth take off of the exercise."

What this means is that all prepaid SIM cards would be mandated to have their ownership details registered with the network operators, starting last weekend. The registration process, according to NCC, commenced last Saturday and expected to last for another six months. After the period ends, non-registered SIM cards will be shut out of Nigeria's mobile networks.

NCC said further "The SIM card registration is in line with complaints that the commission had gotten that mobile phones are used to aid crimes and government has instructed the commission to adopt a mode to help stop crime."

"Nigeria does not have an effective database and that is why we think six months is enough to cover the six geo-political zones in the country and even get to the local government areas," the commission said.

But Daily Trust gathered that the SIM cards registration scheme may suffer hitches as most Nigerian telecoms subscribers have none of the documents NCC requires for the SIM registration. Also, many subscribers are not aware of the new directive and those who are aware do not know how to go about it. While others who are learned fear that the new measure may be misused by the security agents to invade their privacy in the name of 'national security'.

Also, subscribers and the telecoms operators are pessimistic about whether the process will be well conducted. While some are saying the country is not ripe for that, many other believe the scheme may be marred by corruption. They say public officials may see the new scheme as an avenue to pilfer government funds.

Telecoms operators believe the scheme will reduce their revenue as the sales of SIM cards will now be regulated. Daily Trust investigations reveal that the plan seems not to go down well with some telecom operators, who although appreciated the NCC plan as a good development in the telecom sector, but expressed fears that the implementation would cut down SIM sales. There are concerns too that the scheme would cut down the volume of calls that would have originated from the sales of those SIM cards.

Apart from an operator, all other GSM companies have done nothing in respect of the NCC new SIM regime. The operator, Daily Trust can reveal, has called almost all its subscribers to ask for their data in readiness for the SIM registration. Other telecom operators who spoke to Daily Trust in confidence say they generate a lot of money from direct sales of SIM cards on the streets and express fears that such hawking would stop with the implementation of SIM card registration, as Nigerians would no longer want to patronize the street SIM hawkers for fear that they might not be able to activate the lines.

With SIM card registration, they said, the authorized dealer who sells SIM cards will have to get security details of every buyer and forward such details to the operating company who must register the details against the SIM card before activating it. This, they said, will limit their sales as the process seems too cumbersome for Nigerians who seem always in haste to get things done.

Daily Trust gathered that operators have already begun clandestine moves to scuttle the SIM registration scheme. They have made several efforts, including pressurising the Senate Committee on Information to convince the NCC management to discard the new scheme. They are also trying hard to buy over some industry experts to their side with the hope that they could lobby for them. They believe that once they get these people on their side, they can together confront the NCC on why it should drop the idea.

Nigeria: Sim Card Registration - a Policy Dead On Arrival?