Anyone below the age of 18 have been disqualified from owning and registering a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) in the country by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
VANTAGE NEWS reports that this was contained in the draft copy of the modified Registration of Telephone Subscribers Regulations published on the commission’s website.
Limiting telecoms subscribers to persons 18 and above, the commission said, “Subscriber’ means a person not below the age of 18 years who subscribes to communications services by purchasing a subscription medium or entering into a subscription contract with a licensee.”
According to the draft copy, a licensee is ‘a provider of communications services that utilises a subscription medium in the Federal Republic of Nigeria’.
The NCC made the regulation according to the powers conferred upon it by section 70 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.
NCC conducted a Public Inquiry on the Registration of Telephone Subscribers Regulations alongside the drafe SIM Replacement Guidelines and the draft Spectrum Trading Guidelines in Abuja yesterday in accordance with Section 57 of the Act.
VANTAGE NEWS reports that MTN had during the public inquiry, asked the commission to revisit the age limit.
The telecoms company asked the NCC to make the age limit 14 years and above but the commission insisted on 18 years and above.
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