Given security concerns in recent times concerning the anonymity of mobile phone owners, there are indications that the Nigerian Communications Commission might ban the sale of Subscriber Identification Module cards on the streets.

The industry regulatory agency might mandate operators of telecommunications networks to register all existing subscribers.

The expected result of the registration exercise is that subscribers who fail to turn up for the registration could have their lines deactivated from the networks.

These indications emerged at the consultative meeting on the registration of SIM cards by pre-paid subscribers held in Abuja by the NCC.

The SIM card registration process and policy, which are still in the works, are aimed at gathering information on all telecom subscribers as a result of concerns over difficulties in identifying criminals, who latch on to the technology to commit crimes.

Given the ubiquity of SIM card sale, any person can pick up a SIM card on the street, as there is no registration and identification requirement, use the card for criminal purposes and dump it thereafter to avoid being caught.

The calculation in the regulatory agency is that if data on a subscriber is collected, the operator would be able to determine who owns a line used for criminal purposes and offer such information to security agencies on requestEng. Ernest Ndukwe, Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, speaking at the forum, said that criminals exploited the anonymity of prepaid SIM cards to avoid detection.

Eng. Ernest Ndukwe, Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, speaking at the forum, said that criminals exploited the anonymity of prepaid SIM cards to avoid detection.

He said, “The commission has been deliberating on this issue for sometime, and additionally, we have received complaints from security agencies expressing growing concern about the use of mobile phones to commit crimes and the difficulty in tracking down perpetrators, who take advantage of unregistered SIM cards especially for prepaid consumers.”

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hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. . .nice one

@poster."May" is a probability,so let me take all this statements with a pinch of salt.There is two sides to a coin.Everything that has advantage most have shortcomings.

Thats true boo but after the registration,am sure they will start tracking down the fbt hackers as this fbt has slown down all their systems. Maybe they gonna ask the real home address during the registration period zoom zoom zoom am going to bene republic:-)

symbian03:

Thats true boo but after the registration,am sure they will start tracking down the fbt hackers as this fbt has slown down all their systems. Maybe they going to ask the real home address during the registration period zoom zoom zoom am going to bene republic:-)

You make me Laugh