By Sorie Ibrahim Fofanah
The Director General of National Telecommunication Authority (Natca), Amara Brewah, has revealed the authority’s plans to ban the sale of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards on the Streets of Sierra Leone, saying that it was a security concern.
Brewah made this pronouncement at the weekly government news conference organized by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education at the Foreign Affairs Ministry on the 26th of September this year.
He said they would work with Parliament to pass a law that would make selling SIM cards on the streets illegal.
“We have told the mobile network operators not to allow their agents to sell SIM cards on the streets…they should now be sold in an established location”. He noted that they have already conducted raids on such dealers in several parts of the country.
Brewah told journalists that subscribers or mobile phone users are not registering SIM cards bought on the streets and emphasized that established centers of such businesses should ensure that they obtain the ‘necessary credentials,’ making sure that persons buying SIM cards are the actual users. Such information he said would synchronize in the offices of mobile network companies.
“We are working with the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) for them to give one form of identity,’’ Brewah said. Mobile network companies working with NCRA would ensure that NIN numbers would be synchronized with NCRA’s database, he stated.
Brewah said it is ‘already a crime’ to sell SIM cards on the streets, and that they were working with other sectors to ensure that the selling of SIM cards on the streets becomes illegal and also coming up with measures that would prevent the said issue. He said selling SIM cards on the streets is a National security issue, making reference to the activities of fraudulent activities including identity theft.’
The National Telecommunications Authority (NatCA) is the institution responsible for regulating electronic communications operators in Sierra Leone.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (29/09/23)
