Telecommunications operators in Nigeria have blocked millions of lines from making and receiving calls as they rush to meet the July 31, 2024, deadline set by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to verify subscribers' National Identification Numbers (NIN) with all active SIMs.
Despite extending the original deadline from April 15, 2024, to July 31, many subscribers still face issues with their NIN-SIM linkage, prompting the latest actions by MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile.
Earlier phases saw millions of lines disconnected for not linking NIN with SIMs. The current phase requires operators to verify all submitted NINs to ensure the details match the SIM registration database. Airtel’s quarterly results revealed that 4.9 million of its customers’ NINs were yet to be verified.
An official from a mobile network operator, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that many subscribers ignored messages to correct irregularities in their NIN and SIM data. Issues often include mismatched names, photos, or birth dates between the NIN and SIM registration.
Affected subscribers can still reactivate their lines by visiting their service provider to update their records.
Background
In December 2023, the NCC directed all telecom operators to fully bar SIMs that failed to submit NINs by February 28, 2024. This deadline was later moved to July 31, 2024. Additionally, guidelines stipulated that no customer could have more than four active SIMs, with excess SIMs to be barred by March 29, 2024. This directive is part of the Federal Government’s ongoing NIN-SIM harmonization exercise.
Points to note
In March, MTN, Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator, disclosed it had disconnected 4.2 million lines from its network as of February 28, 2024, in line with the NCC’s directive. Since the December 2023 directive, MTN subjected a total of 19 million lines to verification, of which 4.3 million have been verified and 4.2 million have been disconnected.
As a result of the NIN-SIM linkage exercise, active subscriptions across MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9Mobile had declined by over 6 million to 218 million as of January 2024.
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