WHO OWNS A SIM CARD?

The Mobile Telecommunication Network Provider Or The User?

SIM is the abbreviated form of the “Subscriber Identity Module.” SIM card, in the layman’s term, is a tiny, portable chip that stores information about you as a cell phone user. On every SIM card, there is a seventeen digit code that designates the country code of origin, the system carrier, and a unique user ID. One may be wondering, “Who cares about this code?” Phone carriers do, it is how the network providers attribute cell phone bills and charge us.

Now, who owns the SIM card, is it the mobile telecommunications network provider or the user?

One may think of the fact that, oh, I bought the SIM card at a price, registered it in my name, buy airtime even when I want to use the network, and many others. All these statements are true but have it ever come to mind that why these network operators restrict me in certain areas and even block me after usually 90 days of non-usage of the SIM card. All these and many others trigger the question, who owns a SIM card? 

However, my view on this is that we (users) own the SIM cards. In the sense that, just as the above, users buy SIM cards from any mobile telecommunications networks and registers it in their name and other particulars. Whenever one wants to use his/her SIM card, he/she has to also purchase airtime or bundle from the respective network operator, failure to do so results in denial of access. Also, contacts and messages are stored on the SIM card personally by the user and not the network provider. Nowadays, financial transactions can take place using SIM cards, and they are all done by the user.

The only thing done by the mobile telecommunications network provider is moderating and guiding the SIM card to access the various services such as making calls, messaging, browsing, etc. When placing a call, the network provider directs the sender’s signals through the nearest mast to the receiver and ensures a free flow of the conversation. In browsing, the network provider leads the SIM card, when loaded with a data bundle, to a server to access the internet.

With the above, from my point of view, sees the user as the owner of a SIM card.