Reps Warn MTN, GLO, Airtel, Others Over Reselling Of Already Purchased SIM Cards

The likes of MTN, GLO, Airtel and other telecom network providers have been warned against the act of reselling already purchased Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards to another subscriber after months of unuse.

The House of Representatives gave the warning as it mandated its Committee on Telecommunications (when constituted) to interface with Global System for Communication (GSM).

Naija News reports that the call followed the consideration of a motion moved by Boniface Sunday Emerengwa at the plenary yesterday.

Moving the motion, Emerengwa noted that Global Service for Mobile Communication (GSM) came into Nigeria in 2001 with Econet (now Airtel) and MTN as the first providers.

He said: “The advent of GSM enables Nigerians to have access to a variety of different services that were never possible or contemplated in the past such as Mobile Banking Services, etc.

“GSM has helped tremendously to improve the business environment in Nigeria, thereby providing ease of doing business in the country.

“SIM registration began in April 2010 upon directives from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to track subscribers in the possible event of an abuse of usage.

“The SIM registration entails the personal information and submission of individual biometric scans which are retained in the SIM by the Provider.

“The SIM cards paid for by individuals but not in use for six months are resold to another subscriber.”

Naija News understands that after the registration of a fresh subscriber of a pre registered SIM, the details of the earlier subscriber still show when exposed to the True Caller App.

Further regrets are that bank alerts of old subscribers are sent to the new subscriber and vice-versa, thereby exposing customers to huge financial risk, particularly under the growing regime of ‘Yahoo boys’ etc.

Adopting the motion, the House gave the committee two weeks to execute the assignment and report back for further legislative action.