SIM registration is key to number portability, says Itanyi

As Nigerians await the introduction of Number Portability which allows subscribers to move to any network of their choice while still retaining their loved numbers, the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management at the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Mr. Okechukwu Otanyi, has urged all phone subscribers to register their SIM Cars at registration centres across the country as this will determine the introduction of Number Portability.

Mr. Itanyi who spoke at the Consumer Outreach Programme, hosted by the Commission in Makun, Sagamu in Ogun State, said the forum provides an opportunity to request for the maximum cooperation of all subscribers, service providers and all the stakeholders to ensure the success of the ongoing SIM registration.

At the event at the Ewusi Palace hall where the Baale of Makun, Chief Ola Atobatele, represented the Oba, Mr. Itanyi said that the success of this exercise will determine the time from for the introduction of Number Portability.

”It must be noted that at this point that a credible database of all SIM Cards in the country is a basic pre-requisite for the introduction of Number Portability in the country”, he said at the event.

He emphasized that the SIM card registration process involves the capturing of digital photographs and biometric information of the subscribers. “The essence of exercise is to link every SIM Card to the identity of the owners so that if there are threat calls from a particular SIM Card, or crime is committed using a particular mobile phone for instance, chances are that the identity of the owner of the SIM card could be traced”, he said.

He said the security importance of the ongoing registration makes it a civic responsibility of all citizens to register their SIM Cards, saying the number of centres being deployed by the Commission will continue to increase by the day as subscribers in all nooks and crannies of the country will be registered before the end of SIM registration on September 28, 2011.

Director of Consumer Affairs of NCC, Mrs. Mary Uduma, reiterated the need for subscribers to complain to NCC whenever the telecom operators do not respond to their complaints.

She said the Commission is working had to ensure that the operators do not take advantage of the consumers. He urged them to ensure that their SIM cards are registered to make them authentic owners of those lines.