Telecom
National Security via Satellite: (3 of 3; Concluding)
By Andrew Aroh
Satellite communications can play an important role in national security.
The role of this technology is better understood today on the front lines in particular where the following prefer to have robust and redundant communication links close at hand:
- Law enforcement personnel
- Incident commanders
- First responders
The committee on national security has many priorities but need to begin to examine the role that Satellite technology plays in our economy and Security.
The question is:
Has the National Security Team and its affiliated agencies already use satellite technology and commercial satcom for a range of national security related mission?
The answers are:
- An approach that is more focused and coordinated across agencies and authorities would allow a better and more cost-effect use of satellite across the national security establishment.
- The government should create a forum where its needs and the private sector’s capabilities can be examined on a regular basis.
- Lately, the National Emergency management Agency (NEMA) has became n enthusiastic use of satellite communications.
- In NEMA’s disaster field office operations, Satellite based voice, data and video-including full motion video-can be uplink to remote offices in effect matching a fixed facility NEMA office.
- NEMA is familiar with the cospa-sarsat for voice services and a data only satellite capability is available with virtual private Network tunneling, but this system is very limited in terms of bandwidth and does not provide digitized voice or video.
- NEMA needs to upgrade its communication facilities:
MERS:
This is a Mobile Emergency response support involving transportable C-/Ku/Ka-band system in additional to NEMA’s vehicle mounted systems.
This system allows us the flexibility of supporting more independent locations simultaneously, and greatly reduces response time to distant locations due to the ease of air transport versus driving.
NEMA needs to provide L-band capabilities to its earth stations for up to date requirements.
NEMA needs to acquire several DBS system that will be used to provide network connectivity to co-located disaster support staff other than NEMA, including state and local government personnel along with the support staff from other agencies such as the Environmental protection Agency.
An independent body once conducted a lengthy assessment of the nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the possible use of satellite technology emerged as a key component in the list of recommendations. This recommendation has come about because satellite technology:
- Can be used to deliver an EAS message very quickly (within seconds).
- Is very reliable
- Has available high levels of security.
- Does not have the geographical limitations of today’s EAS system.
Satellite delivery of EAS alerts will be the preferred delivery methods within the next few years. What measures are necessary to provide the required facilities?
Satellite facilities currently exist in nearly all radio, television and cable system for the purpose of delivering network feeds. These systems with proper coordination could easily be configured to carry EAS traffic.
Once enough broadcasting facilities are provided, state emergency management agencies and other agencies convert to satellite delivery, the Nigerian communication commission (NCC) will act accordingly.
Professionals lead the way in working with public television stations in development of a hybrid system using satellite and IP data casting technology.
The National Security Team need to evaluate Satellite-based messaging and alert system such as EMNET (Emergency Management Networking) to be deployed all over the 36 states in Nigeria.
- Satellites: Enabling ports and ocean’s offshore links when it comes to protecting seaports and coastal zones, the nation’s maritime administration and safety agency and authorities are routinely in touch via satellite with vessels under way and remote shore-based users using both voice and data links.
- Satellite plays an important role in navigation and the maritime agencies search and rescue operations as well.
- The maritime agency is constantly in search of smaller mobile terminals for ships less than 30 meters in length.
- IP demand-oriented networks is a direction in which the maritime authorities and agencies are trying to head.
- Satellites are a must setting up response centers until more permanent means of communications can be put in place, if any.
- Satellites are a must for remote, disadvantaged users for access to critical information.
- The maritime authorities and agencies need to frequently demonstrate how they can use satellite technology effectively in a variety of emergency response scenarios, sometimes acting as a facilitators in order to assist other agencies.
- Response teams need satellite during emergencies to facilitate other state department and agencies with accessing databases and with the integration of various non-interoperable radio communications.
CREATING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH CENTER:
With the growing emphasis at the presidency and elsewhere on a rapid response squad to emergencies and terrorism, projects such as:
- Disaster response and emergency medical services (DREAMS) are meant to explore ways to use Satellite links to meet a number of needs.
- This advanced mobile medical communications and remote treatment concept revolves around the availability anywhere of two-way video, audio and data communications in ambulances, military vehicles and remote hospitals.
- The project involves using Ku-band/Ka-band hub terminals, commissioned and fully operational to plan a series of experiments that will operate between facilities at different hubs.
- Those experiments will operate IP over DVB bi-directionally.
- The end goal is to deliver IP over DVB to the ambulance (mobile) node in order to dramatically reduce the cost, footprint and power requirements of the data receiver on the ambulance. A typical configuration supports fully duplex data rate of 2.048Mbps
- Testing need to be conducted on the ambulance terminal with the hub in various configurations such as 2.048Mbps (E1).
- Another role of Satellite equipped specialized vehicle involves rapid telecom infrastructure restoration at remote locations.
- This may involves hub terminal addiction of the office of Emergency Management and Communications. Purchasing a small slice of dedicated Satellite bandwidth to support the vehicle and subsequently buying a larger slice in coordination with other entities is ideal.
Satellite Technology enabling Airport Emergency Communications:
- A new Satellite equipped mobile command post (MCP) supports an operating team of a dozen people which can remain on scene for as long as a week with Satellite based video conferencing and remote database access, among other things.
- The vehicle is intentionally designed with some generic components to allow responders from various departments including national security team to be able to use the vehicles capabilities.
- Dual Satellite phones are onboard the vehicles in case cellular phone services crashes or degrades.
- Via IP date transmissions over Satellite, MCP personnel can maintain contact with the fixed facility Emergency Operations Center (EOC), beaming back everything including:
- Photos
- Closed-circuit television feeds
- A forward looking infrared camera feed in instances where visibility on scene is impaired by smoke, for example.
LAW ENFORCEMENT NEED TO WARM UP TO SATELLITE:
The Nigerian Law Enforcement community needs to be on the frontline when it comes to national security.
- In large rural border state in particular, the use of Satellite technology is becoming increasingly common and widespread.
- A state police for a start may begin by equipping about 150 vehicles with Satellite delivered data communications. Through this means a state police stands to slash its data cost by 50 percent by ending the routine use of messaging from officers in the field.
- And as for new Satellite based solutions impacting operations for national security agents, the use of remote video feeds are required.
- The Satellite industry in Nigeria is watching and evaluating how to implement those for national security as time progresses.
- Definitely, at a time when an organization is not able to replace equipment at one time, any changes will have to be phased in to improve services.
- 1At the state level, the state patrol can begin to use trucks/vans equipped with two-way Satellite terminals to perform commercial vehicle enforcement tasks.
- The national security teams need to look at replacing its current systems with systems that will allow communications while a vehicle is in motion. The cost of purchasing and maintaining the systems is easily offset by the benefits in terms of improved communications, and the sharing of valuable data with out-of-state personnel.
- At the senate, many experts see the role of Satellite technology as a work in progress that for numerous reasons does not necessarily occupy a top slot on the national committee priority list. While I am sure that satellite technology has a role to play in national security, it is probably not a special role that the senate committee on national security should go out of its way to support just for the sake of going high tech. This is because most of what we need are:
- SENSORS
- Good computer databases
- Such hands-on technologies
- Patience
- Taking full advantage of Satellites to date.
- Taking full advantage of numerous capabilities across a very broad spectrum that could be very helpful.
- National security via satellite should not be a surprise to anyone judging by the events of today. This should be seen as the biggest reorganization in our 61years as a nation as well as the most complex problem requiring a very complex integrated set of solutions that the nation has ever had to face.
- As you can see, there is urgent need for the national security team and other state and local agencies to start using satellite technology more frequently along with other telecom and emergency response assets. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) need to act fast to facilitate these involvement.
- When all is said and done, given the need for rapid access to vast information resources that can be updated in real-time. It is the incident commanders on scene who probably benefit the most by having a varidly of communications link close at hand. In many instances, a fixed mobile Satellite link should be viewed as a necessity, where the emerging global mobile personal communications (GMPCS) by satellite terminals are compulsory for national security.
CONCLUSION:
With the recent occurrences in Nigeria, including manmade and natural disasters, the National Security should be seeking Satellite solutions for its various agency needs for:
- Border patrol
- Command operations
- Control activities
- Emergency response operations
This is because Satellite enables those in a crisis situation or ones that are preventing one, to execute directives as soon as possible.
There are three areas where commercial satellite technology can significantly play a role:
- Communications
- Remote sensing
- Data information services such as weather
- Andrew Aroh is President SSPI Nigeria
When Okezie Kelechi lost his SIM card, the one he had used since his secondary school days, he didn’t think much of it.
He was shocked weeks later to find out it had been reassigned to someone else.
“I had no idea that if your SIM card has been inactive for more than three months, they will resell it,” he wrote on social media.
“They recycled my SIM card and sold it. Same number, I have had it since secondary school.”
Kelechi’s story is far from unique.
Across Nigeria, more people are waking up to the realities of what is known as SIM recycling, a process where telecommunication companies reassign inactive phone numbers to new users. While allowed under existing rules set by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the practice is now raising serious concerns over data privacy, fraud, and national security.
A regulatory gap with real-life consequences
Experts in Nigeria’s telecommunications and security sectors are increasingly warning that the NCC’s failure to establish stronger oversight of SIM recycling is endangering millions.
“Beyond the data breaches, this issue posed a big threat to national security. I have always maintained the need for a central data system in Nigeria,” said Daniel Makolo, a retired senior official of the Nigerian Immigration Service to The ICIR.
“There’s much more to this if we don’t pay attention to an appropriate central data mining system that gives us a history of each person in the country.”
Ayodele Ajayi, an engineering professor at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, explained the security risks from his own experience.
“I used to have one Airtel number, but I travelled out. Before I came back, it was reallocated to another user,” he said.
Because phone numbers are tied to Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) and National Identity Numbers (NINs), reassigning them can expose people to identity theft and financial loss.
The NCC should find a way to notify users when their numbers are at risk of being deactivated, Ajayi urged.
He also recounted an incident he witnessed at a bank, “a woman was narrating how she used to have a particular number but lost it. Somebody saw the number and started using it.
The woman said that before she could act, the person who got the number had started using it and had connived with a bank office to almost wipe out all her savings.
“Upon arriving at the bank to check her account balance, she found out that she had only N50,000 left from about N5 million she had saved up.”
Ajayi emphasised that while recycling is a practical move for telcos to manage limited number availability, more caution is needed.
“Let people know so they can migrate their data to another line, particularly now that almost every channel we use is linked to the phone number, including our bank verification number (BVN)”, he stated.
Kelechi recalled that his number was reassigned to another user despite still being active on WhatsApp.
“I used to wonder why random Hausa boys were always messaging me and calling me baby.
He added that “when I finally visited MTN office in Nigeria, I was told the line has been sold to someone else. E pain me, I no go lie.”
Another social media user Elizabeth Kandi, @DrETKandi warning others about the hidden risks of SIM inactivity alleges that when reassigned the new user can have access to your USSD banking.
“If your Nigerian number was connected to your Nigerian bank accounts for USSD, if you didn’t use it for long, the network provider can disconnect and sell the number to someone else…but that person would be able to access your money via USSD,” Kandi wrote.
Her post underscores the growing fear that recycled numbers, still linked to sensitive services like mobile banking, can open the door to fraud and financial loss
Why do Telcos recycle SIMs?
At a virtual stakeholder meeting in April 2025, NCC Executive Vice Chairman Aminu Maida acknowledged the concern noting that with the evolving landscape, it has become necessary to address emerging challenges that could undermine consumer rights.
He further noted that the Quality-of-Service Business Rules 2024 stipulate that a prepaid line without a revenue-generating event for six months must be deactivated.
This means if a prepaid SIM card goes unused for six months (i.e., no calls, texts, or data use), it must be deactivated.
If the inactivity continues for another six months, the number may be recycled/reallocated to a new user.
In Section 28 of the NCC’s draft business it is stated that all recycled SIMs must be purged of any NIN attached to allow a new user to link their own NIN. But real-world cases suggest that in practice, many recycled numbers are not properly sanitised before reassignment.
The business case for SIM recycling
For telecom operators, recycling isn’t just a technical choice, it’s economic.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), explained that subscribers do not have ownership rights to SIM cards in their possession, as the telecom operators pay procurement and recurring costs for each registered subscriber.
He further explained that SIM cards are “recycled” to prevent number exhaustion while reducing the cost of generating and maintaining them.
“SIM cards are reassigned to reduce the dormant subscribers, as telcos are profit-oriented organisations,” Adebayo said.
In the exercise of its powers under Section 70 of the NCC Act (2003), the commission made provisions for the development of a new numbering plan for Nigeria. Under the provision, telcos are obligated to pay a sum that is the ‘numbering plan fees’ to maintain their allocated numbers.
Airtel Nigeria has restated its commitment to transparency, customer safety, and regulatory collaboration following recent regulatory enforcement by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The NCC had served Airtel Nigeria a notice of sanction over some alleged SIM infractions in Kano State and consequently slammed a fine of N104 million on the telecommunications firm.
NCC had in a letter, addressed to Airtel Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, dated May 26, 2025, signed by Chizua Whyte, head, Legal and Regulatory Services, and Mohammed Dari, acting head, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, on behalf of Dr Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman, NCC, titled: ‘Notice of Sanction: Non-Compliance with SIM Registration Directive in Kano,’ where the infractions were spelt out.
According to NCC, Airtel infractions include unauthorised SIM registrations using 198 unapproved devices, resulting in 8,275 registrations outside the 281 verified Airtel shops; premature activation of 63 MSISDNs prior to proper SIM registration, contrary to the provisions of the Registration of Communications Subscribers Regulations 2022; failure to conduct effective eyeballing, leading to 407 fraudulent SIM registrations with multiple NINs, contrary to the provision of the Registration of Communications Subscribers Regulations 2022 and failure to provide satisfactory explanation for SIM registrations conducted between 12.00 a.m and 6.00 a.m.
On the matter, the letter revealed that there were some letter exchanges and subsequent meetings on the infractions between the telecom regulator and Airtel, starting from January 12, 2025, March 19, 2025, March 24, 2025, and March 27, 2025, respectively.
Apparently, after investigations and responses from Airtel, the NCC was not satisfied and this led to the fine of N104 million, which was to be paid within seven days from the date the letter was issued.
Specifically, NCC fined Airtel N5 million, N12 million, N81.4 million and N5 million for the infractions respectively.
Reacting, Airtel, expressed appreciation to the NCC for uncovering the infractions, describing the development as a critical opportunity to strengthen internal processes and further align with national security and regulatory expectations
“We thank the NCC for its vigilance and continued support in protecting the integrity of the telecoms ecosystem. Airtel takes these findings seriously and is already implementing corrective measures,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Only recently, Airtel Nigeria’s CEO recently announced that the company is doubling its investment in the country, focusing on network expansion, fiber-to-the-street rollout, 4G/5G deployment, customer care upgrades, and digital infrastructure security.
These investments reinforce Airtel’s long-term vision of building a resilient and forward-looking telecom network that meets the evolving needs of Nigerians.
“Our systems are constantly evolving to stay ahead of scammers and malicious actors,” the spokesperson added. “This is not just about compliance; it’s about our responsibility to the millions of Nigerians who rely on Airtel daily.”
Airtel Nigeria says it will continue to work closely with the NCC and other arms of government to ensure high standards of service and safety for all telecom users nationwide.
Kenya is celebrating its regulatory ecosystem being ranked as the most progressive in Africa. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has ranked the East African country first in its most recent ICT Regulatory Tracker.
ITU’s ICT Regulatory Tracker is an evidence-gathering tool for decision-makers and regulators. It demonstrates the effectiveness of regulatory systems in the age of technology.
The ITU evaluates the design of the national regulatory authority, the scope of the regulatory mandate, the obtaining regulatory environment, and the robustness of the competition framework in member countries.
Kenya received 93 points, up from 92 in 2023, and now leads the continent in best practices for ICT regulations.
Nigeria and South Africa finished second and third, with 92 and 88 points respectively. Malawi, Egypt, Rwanda, Morocco, Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Senegal complete the top 10 list.
Globally, Kenya was ranked 20th out of 194 countries covered.Italy led the rankings, with 100 points.
The regulator, Communications Authority (CA) of Kenya, said the achievement underscored Kenya’s commitment to creating a robust, technology-neutral regulatory environment that supports innovation, affordability and access.
Steve Isaboke, permanent secretary for broadcasting and telecommunications, visited CA Centre in Nairobi following the announcement on Thursday.
“The ranking is a clear testament of the excellent work that CA has done in spearheading Kenya’s digital transformation and driving digital access for all,” he said.
“After 25 years, CA’s regulatory regime has attained maturity, and gained global recognition. This ranking shows that the CA staff and leadership are executing their work diligently.”
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