A couple of weeks back, news about some telecom providers looking to introduce the use of e-SIMs was making rounds on the internet.

Now, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on Monday, approved the testing and the workability of the e-SIM in Nigeria.

According to the regulatory body, only MTN Nigeria and 9mobile are the two mobile network operators in the country with authorization to carry out the test.

The testing phase will be for a year. During that period, the report has it that the two mobile carriers will be performing tests on 5,000 e-SIMs.

For telecom operators to introduce e-SIMs to the public, they must strictly adhere to NCC’s regulations regarding the registration of SIM by every subscriber.

The rule aligns with NCC’s mobile number portability regulation and business rules 2015; Guideline on SIM replacement, and non-degradation of quality of service experienced by e-SIM users.

Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, said, ”The primary aim of the e-SIM testing is to observe its technical operations on the network of service providers,”

”If the operation of the innovation is satisfactory and meets all requirements, then it is safe to introduce the technology to the public,”

”The introduction of e-SIM will eliminate the need for a physical SIM and SIM card slots of mobile phones soon. The trial of this technology is in line with NCC’s regulatory approach to ensure that Nigeria’s telecom space is advancing by the day,” Danbatta stated.