NATCOMS President, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, made this call
recently in Lagos, saying that there were myriad of challenges facing the
exercise and requested for a 12 month extension.
He noted that prior to NCC’s SIM card registration which
commenced on March 28, this year, all the telecoms operators actually started
SIM Card Registration in August, 2010, about 13 months earlier, yet the nation
could not registered more than 12 million subscribers.
 |
| *Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, NATCOMS president |
He emphasized the fact that during the stakeholders meeting
in preparation for the SIM card registration his association, the National Association
of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) had raised alarm on the impending
challenges, including the criteria for the identity cards, spread of
registration centres, registration timeline of six months and level of public
enlightenment and sensitization among others.
Currently, he said there are some new issues of note which
must be addressed in order to be fair, just and be seen to be
regulator-friendly to Nigerian subscribers.
He outlined these to include inadequate coverage, population
density, low rural penetration, wide geographical area, current security
threats of Boko Haram, Jos riots, bomb threats in some areas and across states
to name a few.
NATCOMS boss did not forget the inadequate briefing of SIM
registration agents on necessary and sufficient instructions about the
exercise, even as some of them misinformed subscribers; natural disasters
floods across some cities and states; absence of periodic monthly review and
subscriber education and motivation.
Against this background, NATCOMS appealed to the Nigerian
Communications Commission, the Honourable Minister, Ministry of Communication
Technology and the President and Commander–In–Chief, Federal Republic of
Nigeria to extend the SIM Card Registration Exercise in line with International
best practices for another 12 months with monthly industry periodic review
meetings to ensure regular updates and total subscriber compliance.
Meanwhile, NCC said it has commenced the collation and
harmonization of all existing registered SIM cards nationwide with a window for
accommodating more subscribers.
This follows the end of a six-month countrywide SIM
registration exercise, which began on March 28, 2011 and came to a close last
Wednesday, September 28, this year.
Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
No comments:
Post a Comment