As fines can’t stop telcos registering SIM in uncontrolled setting, what next for NCC?
Going through the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) 2018 quarterly compliance, monitoring and enforcement report, and considering findings by Business Hilights Intelligence Unit (BHIU), it was clear that upon fines imposed on MNOs over SIM registration in uncontrolled environments, the breach is still ongoing nationwide.
Security statistics in Nigeria have shown that pre-registered SIM cards remains the major escape route for perpetrators of kidnapping and allied criminalities in Nigeria since recently and that is part of the reasons the government and NCC have been fighting the scourge using a number of regulatory instruments and compliance raids in some cases.
Checks by BHIU across major states showed that networks are on the veiled habit of handing over roadside operators bulks of new SIM cards to register for them under umbrellas, kiosks or other uncontrolled environment which contravenes extant regulation.
BHIU recalls that NCC had vide a clear directive to all operators to desist from registering SIM cards under umbrellas, kiosks or other uncontrolled environment, effective from February 1, 2017, saying non-compliance would attract a fine of N5m.
However, another round of random checks showed noncompliance on the side of telcos and chronic regulatory complacency on the side of the regulator, NCC.
Details from the quarterly report of the agency showed that the four major network operators in the country have been slammed with a total of N74m by the NCC for violating various regulations.
Though some of the infractions included the routing of a minimum of 10 per cent of interconnect traffic through interconnect exchange licensees; quality of service; approval for promotions and advertisements; total fines on SIM registration in a uncontrolled environment, topped others.
In fact, the NCC made it clear that in its enforcement exercise of SIM registration outside a controlled environment, all the MNOs were culpable.
Within last year, the NCC slammed telcos with a total fine of N60m and gave them a deadline of September 14, 2018 to pay for the infractions as details show that whereas MTN was asked to pay N5m; Airtel paid N20m; Glo N30m; and 9mobile N5m.
Unfortunately, considering the fact that the SIM registration in an uncontrolled environment is still happening in 2019 upon fines slammed last year, can the regulator think out of the box to end the national embarrassing regulatory failures?
