Telecommunication companies can no longer sell SIM cards or register new ones, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has ordered.
In a statement by the NCC director of public affairs, Ikechukwu Adinde, Mobile Network Operators are to immediately comply with the directive until an audit of the Subscriber Registration Database which would be carried out by the NCC is completed.
Adinded quoted the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, of directing the NCC to embark on an audit of the Subscriber Registration Database.
The NCC said non-compliance with the directive could cost telecommunication companies the loss of their operating licenses.
Adinde said the audit is necessary in view of the preponderance of pre-registered SIMs with the attendant security implications associated with the use of same to facilitate criminal activities.
