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ATCON CALLS FOR SIM PACKS REGISTRATION AT AGM 2008

ATCON held its 15th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on April 30, 2008 to present the 2007 audited accounts and the reports of the auditors to its members as well as elect new officers into the National Executive Council (NEC) for the period 2008 - 2010. The event was also used to discuss the security implications of non-accreditation of SIM Packs in Nigeria. While discussing the issue of SIM Pack accreditation in the Nigerian telecommunications industry, members reasoned that there were three key areas of need to carry out the exercise without delay:

National Security: There is need to identify who made calls or sent SMS in breach of national security, and why, where, when and with who? Law Enforcement: The Police, EFCC, NIA, ICPC, SSS, Customs, Immigration, NDLEA, NAFDAC, etc. may also need to know who called or sent SMS to who, when and where in breach of the law? They may need to ascertain who is posing a threat to lives and property? SIM pack accreditation will greatly aid criminal investigations. Cyber-security: With the mobile (GSM/CDMA) IP (LAN, WAN, Internet) seamless integration (converged networks), there can be a cyber-security breach from any phone number. E-mail to SMS and vice versa communication, GPRS, WiFi, mobile WiMax, etc, imply seamless migration of data packets through a National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI), State Information Infrastructure (SII), Local Information Infrastructure (LII) and Private Information Infrastructure (PII) of private companies/entities like banks, oil & gas companies, other corporate organizations, religious institutions, etc. We need to uniquely identify all voice/data/video sources and signals of our NII/SII/LII/PII. Individual Privacy/Security: Individuals should be able to verify who made the threat calls or sent the threat SMS? With the accreditation of SIM packs, the Police can identify and locate the threat caller?

Discussants agreed that the way forward to achieve a successful SIM Pack registration would include the facts that:

There must be clearly defined and registered distribution and dealership channels for SIM Packs of operating companies. That means there should be no hawking of SIM packs. At the point of sale of SIM packs, after accreditation by the dealer/seller, a photocopy of the buyer‘s international passport data page should be filed along with duly completed accreditation form containing basic bio-data and contact address information. Moratorium period of 6 – 12 months should be given to existing SIM Pac owners to get accredited by the telecom operators as outlined in section 2 above. Only accredited phone numbers should exist in the operator’s subscriber database after the moratorium period. High confidential and password-restricted on-line access to subscriber bio-database by appropriate law enforcement agencies via a multilaterally agreed Access Due Process must be in force. Inter-connectivity with Cyber-security database and mandatory call data Retention database of operators must be established. Establishment of a techno-managerial platform within the proposed Ministry of ICT and the relevant law enforcement agencies for subscriber accreditation interconnectivity will be desirable.

The discussions also revealed that SIM pack accreditation will create new business/employment opportunities in the areas of Data Warehousing, Data Mining, Storage Area Networks (SANs). These could be developed and managed by network operators or outsourced to other competent organizations. There are also opportunities for Communication Protocol development, Applications Software development, development of Network Facilities and Devices, etc. Also at the AGM, a new National Executive Council (NEC) was elected and inaugurated to pilot the affairs of the association for two years – 2008 to 2010. The full list of the new NEC led by Dr. Emmanuel E. Ekuwem, Chief Executive Officer of Teledom International Limited, is posted on the Administration page of this website.

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