The Nigerian Communications Commission says the 95.7 million subscribers’ SIM registration that was declared invalid on Tuesday are undergoing scrubbing and verification.
While giving clarification on a media report which emerged from the Sensitisation Workshop in Port Harcourt, the affected subscribers’ records were being screened to verify biometric and personal information submitted by all operators in respect of each of their subscribers.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the commission explained that so far, 60 million SIM card registrations had been verified successfully.
The NCC said, “Understandably, this needs further clarification for the benefit of subscribers and other critical stakeholders who rely on subscriber registration data.
“The commission, therefore, wishes to clarify that the process of scrubbing registration data submitted by operators is an ongoing one and that so far, over 60 million records have been scrubbed successfully.
“Scrubbing in telecom parlance refers to the screening process of verifying biometric and personal information submitted by all operators in respect of each of their subscribers.”
According to the telecom regulator, the 95.7 million illustrates the quality of initial data submissions, saying subsequent process enhancements by the NCC and operators had led to better quality submissions.
The regulator said the reason for the disclosure on the initial scrubbing exercise was to emphasise the need for subscriber registration agents and operators to ensure strict adherence to the Subscriber Registration Regulations of 2011 as well as the technical specifications for registration.
The statement added, “NCC, however, wishes to use this opportunity to encourage all subscribers to ensure that their details are properly captured in order to avoid unnecessary complications which may affect their banking, educational, health, travel and other pursuits which rely on proof of personal identity.
“We also wish to assure all stakeholders that the commission will continue to aggressively pursue the national interest objectives of delivering an accurate database of telephone subscribers in Nigeria. We expect all players in the subscriber registration value chain to support the national security objectives of the exercise as the NCC will continue to show zero tolerance for deviations from the process.”
The Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, NCC, Mr Sunday Dare, who was represented in Port Harcourt by the Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement at the Commission, Mr Efosa Idehen, said those who indulged in the selling of pre-registered SIM cards would be charged for felony, adding that they risked 25 years’ imprisonment as prescribed by the law.
According to him, the new moves follow eight years of continuously fighting cases of fraudulently-registered or activated SIM cards by the commission starting from 2012, without appreciable compliance by the MNOs and their different layers of registration agents across the country.