Mobile phone subscribers in Bwari, an Abuja suburb, have complained over the extortion of money at the global telecomms network sim registration centres.

Our correspondent, who visited some locations where subscribers were registering their sims, reports that officials at the network centres were collecting sums of money from the subscribers for what was meant to be “free”.

Mr Adamu Yusuf, a civil servant, said the officials always complained that there was no registration forms and requested each subscriber to pay N100 to register.

“ We heard over the radio that sim registration is free but I am surprised that officials are now collecting money from us before they register our sim, ” he said.

Mr Udoh Inyang also lamented the extortion, saying that the officials hid the forms in order to collect money from subscribers before they were registered.

But an official of MTN, who refused to disclose his identity, told our correspondent however, that subscribers were being charged some amount for registration on-line.

Some of the subscribers appealed to the telecommunication giant to ensure that registration of sim cards were indeed free in the area.