By Ibrahim Olukotun         

Lagos. June 20, 2013: All phone users yet to submit their biometric details under the registration exercise underway will have their lines cut off by June 30, this year, the telecoms regulator has said underscoring it will not change the final deadline. 

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the for registration of all SIM cards across the country remains in force according to its Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice Chairman of the telecoms regulator.

Juwah says that any number that is not registered by 30 June this year will be disconnected from the network of the respective service provider to the mobile phone user.

“We wish to mention this because of the importance we attach to this programme (SIM registration) and for media to realize the importance of sensitizing Nigerians of the essence of registration programme and the upcoming disconnection of all unregistered SIM in Nigeria by June 30, 2013″, Juwah says.

NCC started the SIM registration exercise in March 28, 2011 with plans to complete the exercise within months. When the deadline proved unrealistic, it was extended by the regulator to accommodate more registrations.

Next month is the final deadline of the exercise says NCC which also expressed optimism about Mobile Number Portability, the newly introduced scheme that allows phone users to change their service provider and still retain their unique phone number underscoring that it will improve quality of service and reduce tariffs.

According to Juwah, NCC is committed to ensuring that consumers get value for money. 

“Many people have asked whether people are porting or not. To us at the commission, that question is not critical as MNP is a choice being given to the consumers to seek alternative when they no longer happy with what they are getting from their operator”, he adds.

For Juwah, “the most important thing for the commission is that the operators are improving in all facets of their services as imposed by the competition engendered by MNP. If the idea of MNP results in the desired improvement on the quality of services being enjoyed by subscribers, then the Commission would have succeeded tremendously with the introduction of MNP.”