Mobile Phone Users Turn To Black Market For Sim Cards

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The ban on the sale and registration of new Subscriber Identity
Module (SIM) cards has created a huge black market for the sale of
pre-registered SIM cards with prices ranging as high as N15,000 for
a card, TheNation report.^[1]

On December 9th last year, the Federal Government, through the
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Ibrahim Pantami
ordered a ban on the sale and registration of new SIM cards.
Government threatened to mete out heavy sanctions on them including
revocation of operating licences should any of them be found on the
side of infractions.

The Nation’s review at the weekend however showed that as long
as the ban persisted, sellers took advantage to market their
pre-registered SIM cards in various regions. Even with the lifting
of the bank last week, the black market remained active, although
the announcement of the lifting of the ban led to a significant
crash in the cost of pre-registered SIM card from about N15,000 to
N2,000.

From Ibadan, Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Kontogora, pre-registered
SIM cards for the mobile networks were still on sale, especially
through decentralised outlets.

An Abuja based young techpreneur said he had to pay N10,000 to
stay connected because the legal way to acquire a new SIM card had
been blocked.

Another US returnee in Lagos said he paid about N15,000 to get a
SIM card to be able to link up with his families across the country
and back in the states.

“Men, I got to be connected. I can’t imagine being blacked out
indefinitely because the government ban had no timeline attached to
it. So, I had to help myself. Thank God. I am going to destroy the
SIM when I am going out of the country because it must have
performed its duties,” he said.

But at the weekend, a SIM card seller on the outskirts of Lagos
said he has no new SIM cards that are not pre-registered. “I just
have the SIM card of one of the network service providers with me
and it is already pre-registered. I heard the government has lifted
the ban on the sale of new SIM cards but I am yet to hear from the
agent I work for. The price of the SIM card I have now is N2000. It
has dropped from about N10,000 last two months to N2,000 may be
because of the new government directive,” he said.

In the Wuse area of Abuja, a SIM card retailer on condition of
anonymity, said while the sale of SIM cards is still ongoing,
registration has been suspended.

“We were instructed to stop registering new SIM cards until
further notice but we were not told not to sell the
(pre-registered) SIM cards we have,” he said, ostensibly ignorant
of the illegality of his action.

The sale or use of pre-registered SIM card carries a fine or
jail term or both, according to the NCC.

For a telecom company, each pre-registered SIM card attracts a
penalty of N200,000 and for a user an imprisonment.

A SIM card and airtime seller at Oshodi area said the
government’s action will only boost the sale of pre-registered SIM
cards in the black market.

“What the government is doing will only boost black market
sales. It is because of sudden change in policies like this that
many SIM card sellers always have pre-registered lines for anyone
that is in desperate need of a SIM to the extent of willing to pay
more for it,” she said on condition of anonymity.

According to her, while there may be merit in the government’s
decision, it is hurting people who rely on the sale of SIM cards to
earn a living.

During the ban, countless people who lost their phones or
damaged their SIM cards inadvertently couldn’t retrieve them.
Visitors to the country couldn’t get SIMs and businesses that
depended on SIM cards sales took a terrific hit.

Millions were thrown out of jobs, sales outlets were shut down
while operators lost revenue. “The last five months was indeed a
real chokehold on the telecommunications industry,” a sector
analyst said.

According to market research, teledensity has decreased from its
highest peak of 108.92 per cent at the end of November 2020 and a
drop in the number of mobile subscriptions from nearly 208 million
to 200.2 million.

Additionally, active internet subscriptions have dipped from
nearly 155 million at the end of November 2020 to about 151.2
million at the end of January 2021.

This represents a loss of 3.6 million active internet
subscriptions within two months – after over a year of steady
growth in active internet subscriptions.

Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) also suffered a similar fate
with active subscriptions dropping from 429,121 to 387,169 within
the same period.

Furthermore, between November and December 2020 broadband
penetration decreased marginally from 45.07per cent to 45.02 per
cent. However, between December 2020 and January 2021 Nigeria
experienced a major decrease in broadband penetration when it fell
to 42.93per cent after the number of broadband subscriptions
dropped from nearly 86 million to less than 82 million.

Fixed wired active internet subscriptions in Nigeria continued
with steady month-on-month growth from 9,866 at the end of February
2020 to 11,545 at the end of January 2021.

The government had lifted the ban last week with stringent
registration conditions of presenting NIN, a decision it said was
in line with the country’s revised National Digital Identity Policy
for SIM Card Registration.

“An earlier policy was approved on the 4th of February 2020,
while the Revised Policy was developed in early March 2021. The
final amendments to the revised Policy based on the directives of
Mr President to make the use of NIN mandatory for all SIM
registration were completed yesterday, 14th of April, 2021,” read
an excerpt from Dr Pantami’s statement.

The NCC however said it has started to clampdown on suspected
SIM card registration fraudsters engaged in the sale of
pre-registered SIM cards as five persons were arrested and handed
over to law enforcment agencies.