ALTON tasks FG on 8 months SIM registration extension

… Says 50% so far registered
By BISI OLALEYE
Monday, September 26, 2011
Hours to the September 28 deadline for the conclusion of the subscriber identity module (SIM) card registration, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has appealed to stakeholders and government to extend the registration foranother eight months.

The Chairman of the association, Gbenga Adebayo said in Lagos at the weekend that SIM card registration exercise, which started on February 14, 2011, had so far recorded over 50 per cent of the total subscribers in the country.
He said it was necessary for the regulator to extend the registration date to May, 2012, saying this was necessary in view of the fact that only about 50 per cent of the over N90 million subscribers had been registered by all the operators.

He said: “As the September 28 deadline for the conclusion of the SIM registration exercise draws closer, ALTON wishes to call on the Federal Government and the NCC to kindly extend the deadline for the exercise to enable subscribers who have not registered to do so.”

According to him, various challenges faced by the operators during the exercise had made it impossible for them to achieve 100 per cent registration of their subscribers. He noted that the extension had also become necessary to prevent a widespread panic and insecurity that would most likely occur if the estimated 50 per cent of subscribers that were not yet registered were excluded from the registration process.

“Though the exercise recorded significant success, it must be mentioned that the project has been beset with enormous challenges which had a significant impact on the outcome of the exercise. The challenges included but not limited to general logistics such as the ability of SIM registrations agents to access certain parts of the country, especially the hinterland and rural areas; the conduct of 2011 general elections in most parts of the country; the post-elections violence; torrential rainfall and resultant devastating flooding in various parts of the country; the general lull in activities resulting from Christian lent and Muslim ramadan during which a period of fasting and religious reflection was observed by millions of Nigerians.”

Other challenges that had negatively impacted on the progress of the exercise, according to him, included the heightened threats to security such as the spate of bombings across the country, ongoing violence and threat to lives in certain parts of the country.

SOURCE: Daily Sun Newspaper, 26 September 2011. http://www.sunnewsonline.com