SIM registration has been touted as a mechanism to eliminate SIM Box fraud, but Airtel Ghana says all of its SIM cards being used by SIM Box fraudsters are registered. Airtel has said that over 90 per cent of its SIM cards have been registered since the beginning of SIM card registration early on this year, yet its SIMs continue to be used for SIM box fraud massively. In September 2011 alone, the National Communications Authority (NCA) detected 5,454 SIM cards being used for SIM box fraud, and out of that number Airtel alone had 5,369 SIM cards, representing over 98%. The other GSM telecom operators are worried that Airtel is not being vigilant enough and it is allegedly making money meant for the other operators whose SIMs are practically lost from SIM boxing activities. Adom News asked whether Airtel has indeed not been vigilant enough to register its SIMs, but Revenue Assurance Manager at Airtel Ghana, Nixon Wampamba said all the Airtel SIMs being used by fraudsters are registered SIMs. “Forget about the idea (that SIMs registration makes things difficult for fraudsters), the SIMs are actually registered - all the SIMs (being used by the fraudsters) are registered,” he stated. Mr. Wampamba explained that prior to SIM registration, SIM box fraudsters used to buy SIMs in bulk at a go using fake names, and so it was easily detectable, but now they use genuine names to purchase and register SIMs in bits and pieces from different locations across the country. “Because each person is allowed to register at most five SIMs under one name, the fraudsters go from vendor to vendor using genuine names to register at least five each and that is how they gather the thousands of SIM cards for their fraud,” he said. He noted that Airtel had also realised that some of its agents who operate in areas which are not easily accessible, also connive with fraudsters and allow them to register SIMs with fake IDs, but when those agents are discovered they are either handed over to the police or dismissed. “Some of those agents do not demand picture IDs and the ID numbers they use are not easily verifiable so we are not able to prevent the registration,” he said. Mr. Wampamba noted that the other challenge that made it easy for fraudsters to acquire and register SIMs was the difficulty in verifying their IDs due to lack of a readily available central data system where operators could make instant verification of IDs. Telecom operators and some civil society organisations did say, before the SIM registration started, that there was need for an automated central data system for immediate verification of IDs at the point of registration, but that concern was set aside by the regulator. The concern was that if SIM registration was, among other things, intended to stop the trend where people used anonymous phone numbers for fraud and threat, then there should be an automated central verification system in place first before the exercise started. Asked whether SIM registration was indeed helping to deal with the fraud, Mr. Wampamba stated categorically that the SIM registration was necessary for many good reasons but the battle against the fraudsters is not necessarily being won through SIM registration. He however noted that Airtel used the same methods as the National Communication Authority (NCA) and its own additional methods to detect and deactivate SIM box numbers, adding that Airtel was also instrumental in establishing the Anti-Fraud Forum, which included all telecom operators, the regulator and the police, where they shared information in the fight against SIM Box fraud. He said Airtel also has a dedicated short code, 919, and email addresses through which Airtel customers can report SIM Box numbers to the Airtel Anti-fraud unit. “But I can assure you that before a customer or another telecom operator detects a fraudulent number and report to us we would have seen it already and deactivated it from our system – and sometimes we get complaints from people that their numbers have been deactivated but those people never show up,” he said. Mr. Wampamba said as of now the daily detection of Airtel numbers in SIM Boxes has reduced from about 500 to 100 and that is a clear sign that the battle is being won. On the issue of Airtel making money meant for other telecom operators, Mr. Wampamba said it would not be fair to hold Airtel responsible for the activities of fraudsters. “It is unfortunate that this time round most the SIM Box numbers are Airtel numbers but in time past there were several numbers of other telecom operators but now we have the most affordable tariffs and that is what attracts the fraudsters who are basically looking for how to make money and pay very little or nothing at all. “Like all the other operators, we have the license to bring in international traffic for the other telecom operators and we would have made far more money if all these calls come directly through our international gateway but we are also losing between $200,000 and $500,000 a month to SIM box fraudsters,” he said. Mr. Wampamba said even though Airtel’s affordable tariffs was an attraction for fraudsters, it could not increase tariffs because a greater majority of its genuine customers deserve that affordability, adding that “in any case tariffs are still going down because of competition and as Glo is coming into the market tariffs may even go further down.”