Serious divisions have emerged between telecom industry experts and security analysts on the possibility of main Network Operators (MNOs) meeting or complying with the fresh ultimatum handed down to them on disconnecting ruminants from the current 2.4 million SIM cards whose their registrations were considered incomplete.
The telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had told the Minister, Mr Isah Pantami that the number of unregistered SIM cards in the country had dropped from 9.2 million to 2.4 million.
Recall that Pantami had initially ordered the blocking of SIM registration defaulting mobile telephone lines, but later gave new date of September 25.
Speaking while inaugurating some new members of the governing board of the NCC in Abuja on Monday, the Minister warned that “By 25th September 2019, we don’t want to have any more cases of incomplete registration. The remaining 2.4 million SIM cards must be fully registered.”
In an interview with security experts, they welcomed the ultimatum and explained further that if the order is complied with, cases of kidnapping will be reduced to the barest minimum.
They agreed that kidnapping is still thriving because of the prevalence of either unregistered SIM cards or incomplete registrations.
Security analysts also averred that full compliance by networks will reduce cases of banking frauds.
However, they argued that before the order will be met, networks must train and retrain their staff and agents who are careless in registering SIM cards, revealing that people with criminal tendencies rely on the poor detailing of some network staff or agents in getting away with SIM cards that cannot be traced in the systems.
On the readiness of networks to comply, some telecoms experts said for the greed of making money from more subscribers on their networks, there are chances that some networks may trivialize the ultimatum.
To them, depending on the veracity of sanctions for networks that erred, the order may or may not pass the test of time.
