This post will provide information on "what is the history of sim card registration in Nigeria as well as provide answers to questions like: When was SIM card invented in Nigeria? What year did GSM came to Nigeria? Who invented phone in Nigeria? What is the historical background of internet in Nigeria?
In the year 1999, about 16 percent of the African population was covered by a mobile signal, and then ten years later it was recoded 60 percent, which is over five billion mobile subscriptions globally, approximately 695 million mobile are in Africa, which is currently home to over a one billion people. More than 735 million subscribers were expected in Africa, by the end of the year 2013, and it was estimated that it should have one billion subscribers by the year 2016. Although beginning with basic phones and low–bandwidth connectivity, Africans increasingly have access to high–quality 3G networks and affordable smartphones, in contrast to OECD (Organisation for Economic Co–operation and Development) economies where mobile telephone exists alongside significant fixed broadband usage. in Africa a wide variety of activities are concentrated onto the mobile device. However, the concomitant privacy and surveillance implications of portable, ubiquitous mobile connectivity in Africa,at the moment, is largely overlooked. One of the key modalities of Africa’s emerging mobile–centric surveillance society is the rise of SIM registration requirements. These regulations require mobile phone users to provide personal identification details in order to purchase use SIM card. They are now in effect in the majority of African countries and have a range of implications for inclusion, surveillance, and development.
There are several main reasons for the adoption of sim card registration in Nigeria but this article will highlight two major reasons.
Governments and regional organizations like the EACO are ostensibly motivated by the belief that forcing customers to register SIM cards will reduce the opportunities for malevolent actors to use mobile devices anonymously to undertake unlawful or socially harmful activities, including kidnapping, drug trafficking, and terrorism. The underlying concern is that, in markets in which SIM cards need not be registered with personally identifiable information, users have the opportunity to communicate without attribution and are thus outside the immediate reach of the police.
The introduction of SIM registration rules may increase switching costs and thereby reduce ‘churn’, the industry term for customer migration to competitors.