The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday announced it has authorised the testing of the workability of embedded Subscriber Identification Modules (e-SIM) Service in Nigeria.
According to the regulator, the trials will be carried out by MTN Nigeria and 9mobile during which both operators will test a total of 5,000 e-SIMs for a period of one year in line with its stated conditions.
For the operators to roll out the e-SIMs, they must comply with the regulator’s regulations regarding telecoms subscribers which include SIM registration. The operators are required to abide by NCC’s mobile number portability regulations and business rules 2015; Guidelines on SIM Replacement 2017; and non-degradation of the Quality of Service experience by users of e-SIMs.
An e-SIM is a small chip that is embedded on a mobile phone or smart devices, enabling convenience, flexibility and simplicity. With the e-SIM, subscribers can choose a prepaid plan provider and switch between network operators.
Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta said the primary objective of the e-SIM trial is to assess the technical performance of the e-SIM on telecoms service providers’ network towards eventual rollout, if satisfactory.
“The e-SIM is a technology that will eliminate the need for physical SIM card slots on mobile devices in the near future, adding that the trial is in line with the Commission’s forward-looking regulatory approach to ensure Nigeria’s telecoms ecosystem is in tandem with global best practices,” Danbatta said.
Network roaming trial
In a related development, NCC has approved the network roaming trial exercise by MTN Nigeria and 9mobile. Explaining the exercise, NCC said both operators can configure their networks to test and simulate for customer experience.
“The trial approval covers a few local governments, designated as the National Roaming geographic area, in Ondo State,” NCC stated.
According to the NCC, an active roaming service will enable mobile subscribers to automatically enjoy telecom services including calls, data, or access other services when travelling outside a particular network geographical area by utilising the network coverage of other networks with roaming arrangements to access telecom services.
Danbatta said the National Roaming Service trial will encourage network resource sharing among operators.
He added that the exercise will lead to operational expenditure optimisation and capital expenditure efficiencies leading to freeing up of resources to expand mobile network coverage to unserved and underserved communities across the country, which will lead to improved Quality of Service delivery to subscribers.
“The successful implementation of the trial will enable EMTS subscribers to access MTN network service within the National Roaming trial geographical area without the need for an MTN Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card,” Danbatta said.
