<h1>Unregistered SIM Cards To Be Disconnected - NCC</h1>

Any subscriber on a telecommunications operator’s network, who fails to register his Subscriber Identification Module card by the end of the ongoing data integration will automatically be disconnected from the network, the Nigerian Communications Commission has said.


The spokesman of the telecoms regulatory agency, Mr. Reuben Muoka, stated this in a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday.

 Muoka denied a report (not in THE PUNCH) that NCC had fixed December 31, 2011, as the deadline for the switching off of unregistered SIM cards, but did not provide any deadline for data collation in the first phase of the SIM card registration exercise that ended on September 28.

He said, "The commission wishes to reiterate its commitment to the ongoing harmonisation of registered SIM cards involving the collation, reconciliation, cleaning, and consolidation of the captured data into a central data infrastructure for efficient management of Nigeria’s subscriber data base.

"Within this period, subscribers who have not registered their SIM cards for any reason whatsoever still have a chance to register. No telecoms operator is permitted to disconnect any subscriber on account of SIM card registration until the completion of the process, which will be officially announced to the general public by the commission, and at which time those who have yet unregistered will be automatically disconnected."

In addition to the network service providers, NCC had engaged seven contractors at a cost of N6.1bn for the SIM registration exercise, which began on March 28, 2011.

The contractors include SW Global for the South-East region; PNN for the North-Central region; Chams for Lagos; and JKK for the South-West region.

Others are DATAGROUPIT for the North-East region; Eagle/CBC, North West region; and E-Kenneth/SageMetrics, South-South region.

PUNCH