Gsm Operators Ignore NCC Directive On Sim Card Deactivation

48 hours after the deadline given the telecom providers in Nigeria to disconnect unregistered sim cards in the country,CKN Nigeria investigation has shown that most of the sim cards have not been disconnected.A check on some customers of MTN, Etisalat, Airtel, Globacom and others showed a slow approach to the directive,The Nigerian Communications Commission directed that all unregistered sim cards should be deactivated by midnight of 30th June 2013.While several reasons have been adduced by the operators for the slow pace in deactivating the lines which some sources told us are as high as 27 million.Our finding showed that this was for some financial reasons.Most of the providers were not ready to lose their customers and revenue being generated from these lines. According to one of them that spoke to CKN Nigeria,they ll rather thread gently in order not to lose their customers to competitors.When CKN Nigeria spoke with the Director,Public Affairs of the NCC Mr Tony Ojobo this afternoon,he confirmed that the operators were "deactivating" the unregistered cards.Its not yet known what the NCC will do in order to make the operators comply fully with this directive