To provide further assurance on the integrity of its Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) registration database, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will shortly begin the second phase of its ongoing audit of SIM registration data and registration processes across all Mobile Network Operator (MNO) platforms.
The audit is specifically to monitor operators’ strict adherence to the technical and other specifications for the subscriber registration as prescribed by the NCC’s Telephone Subscribers Registration Regulations of 2011 and the Technical Standards and Specifications issued by the Commission in 2011 and subsequently thereafter. The Commission however stated that the audit is without prejudice to the ongoing “backend verification and scrubbing” of SIM registration data already submitted to the Commission by MNOs such as MTN, Glo, Airtel, 9Mobile and Mtel.
According to the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, “the NCC is very sensitive to the fact that the Subscriber Registration Database is a veritable tool being used by Security and Law Enforcement Agencies in the detection and apprehension of criminal elements involved in heinous crimes like kidnapping, financial crimes, armed robberies, banditry, cattle rustling and other crimes which leverage on easy access to the national telecoms network. As such, we are determined to continue to ensure that all SIM cards are traceable to their real owners with the least effort”.
The EVC also noted that the verification exercise is a continuation of the NCC’s consistent regulatory interventions to ensure a clean and credible SIM registration database. This effort started with the enactment of the Subscriber Registration Regulations and registration specifications in 2011. It was significantly ramped up in August 2015 when the MNOs were given a deadline to disconnect SIMs found not to be fully compliant with registration requirements, with the attendant consequences. It continued with the setting up of a SIM Registration Task Force in 2017 to further harmonise registration practices across all networks, and it culminated in the recent establishment of a joint Industry Working Group comprising of senior representatives of the NCC, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and MNOs. That Working Group was set up with the singular mandate of harmonizing the subscriber registration process with the National Identity Card Registration Project.
“Currently, verification and scrubbing of SIM Registration data is ongoing. This is to ensure the integrity of data submitted to the Commission by the MNOs, before we feed the cleaned-up data to the central database warehoused by NIMC. The audit is a natural next step to ensure that not only is the data already submitted fully compliant, but that operators maintain the highest standards of registration practices across all their touch-points so that the subscriber data they are collecting continues to serve the national security and other interests for which subscriber registration was mandated”, Professor Danbatta further stated. “Everything we are doing is in accordance with global best practice – verification and audits are continuous exercises which the Commission has been engaging in since 2011 when subscriber registration formally commenced in Nigeria”.
“Our objectives are to carry our quality assurance on the integrity of all aspects of the subscriber registration process and to demonstrate zero tolerance for any deviation from laid-down processes by any industry player, no matter how seemingly minor. Our expectations are very high indeed, considering the national security and socio-economic implications of the Subscriber Registration Database”. Prof. Danbatta stated.
The EVC used the opportunity to allay the fears of consumers, saying that “during this audit, there will be no disruption of service to law abiding consumers who have genuinely registered their SIMs – we have made sure of that by designing the exercise in such a way that we can gauge compliance at measured intervals using very professional tools and standards”.
He nonetheless stressed that the NCC determined to aggressively pursue the national interest objectives of delivering a credible database of telecoms subscribers in Nigeria: “this is why we are working with NIMC and other stakeholders to tighten all loose ends. We are determined deliver one single, credible national citizens identity database which is sorely required to fast-track the attainment of the Federal Government’s national security and reform agenda”, he stated.