PURA WARNS GSM SUBSCRIBERS TO COMPLY WITH PHONE REGISTRATION EXERCISE

Officials of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) have called on subscribers to officially register their SIM cards of Gamcel, Africell, Comium and QCell. The deadline for SIM Card registration is fast approaching. By mid-June PURA “aims at 100%” blocking of all unregistered SIM Cards from making calls. Unregistered subscribers can only receive calls and make or receive text temporarily until such a time when their lines will be eventually deactivated, says Abdoulie Jobe, PURA’s director general. Mr Jobe was speaking to a team of journalists on Saturday at his institution’s office on Kairaba Avenue, in a press briefing. The move will mark an end to more than a year’s campaign that takes the form of a countrywide mission aimed at registering SIM cards for security and safety reasons. As the mission draws to a close, Mr Jobe says it is essential journalists as information disseminators are kept abreast of the progress of the SIM Registration, which is an executive order. He did recognise the part to be played by the Media in the achievement of the mission, whilst reminding the public that the project PURA has embarked on in the last four months and half “is not” a PURA-initiated move, but a national project.

“This is not a PURA’s project; it’s a national project for the benefit of all residents in the country,” he says. DG Jobe explained the stages his institution would undertake in the SIM card registration campaign, saying the first step is registration of all SIM card users; second, the data is sent to PURA, as the regulatory body, and finally PURA will forward the data to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and the Immigration Department. After verifications are made by the two institutions, they will return the data to PURA who will then send it to the GSM operators, who will send text messages to their customers that the registration of their SIM cards has become successful. However, it remains unclear over what will happen if false data are returned to a particular GSM operator. This hangs some people’s fates in the balance, as the IEC or the immigration department may not have some users’ information in their information desks. As answer to this doubt lingers on, concerns are that some subscribers will have their SIM cards blocked, since the potential for a false data cannot be ruled out. The telecoms engineer at PURA, Sally Bittaye-Janneh, disclosed that upcountry sim card registration tour is in progress and that currently they have covered over 250 villages in 21 districts. She says the tour will continue to other areas that are yet to be covered come next week “We felt the need to take the project to the people as some subscribers cannot easily access the GSM operating centres,” she says, adding that result of the exercise is “so far so good”. Knowing very well that the “success of the project depends on the people,” Mrs Bittaye-Janneh also notes the help of the Media in successfully informing consumers about the importance of the executive-initiated project. She also advised all holders of SIM cards to register their lines since it is all geared towards enhancing national security. Other speakers on the occasion included Sampo Ceesay, deputy director of electricity regulation, and Solo Sima, director of consumer affairs at PURA.