Globacom Limited is in the doghouse with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) after it was accused of flouting the regulator's directive on the ban of selling fully activated SIM cards in a number of states in the country. The NCC on Thursday issued a N5 million fine on the telecom operator. According to a statement issued by the NCC, it has sent two notices of sanctions to Globacom over its “non-compliance with the ban on sale of fully activated SIM cards, as well as non-compliance with the guidelines on technical specifications for the installation of masts and towers.” The commission stated in its report that on February 14, “compliance monitoring reports received from Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Enugu, Abuja and other locations indicated that new Globacom SIM cards were fully active.” NCC's chief of Public Affairs Reuben Muoka said in comments published by NEXT that the reglator attempted to contact Globacom in order to get the company to comply to the regulations, but the company failed to meet the NCC's request. “The Commission thereby issued Notice of Sanction on Globacom having failed to comply with the said Direction in accordance with the provisions of Section 55 of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, and the Nigerian Communications Regulation 2005,” he said. It is unclear to analysts and observers what will happen if Globacom refuses to pay the fine or comply with the law. BM
