One of the largest Nigeria’s telecom operators, MTN Nigeria, has lost a whooping 7.3 million active subscriptions in January, as it enforced the Nigerian Communications Commission’s directive of banning SIMs not linked with NIN.
This was revealed in arecent industry data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission, noting that MTN’s total active subscriptions, which stood at 87 million in December 2023, dropped to 79.7 million in January.
In December 2023, NCC issued a directive to telecommunications operators, MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile, among others, to implement full network barring on all phone lines for which the subscribers have not submitted their national identification numbers by February 28, 2024.
MTN said that it disconnected 4.2 million lines in compliance with the NCC’s directive on NIN-SIM linkage.
Since December 2023, when the NCC issued the directive requiring full barring of subscriber lines not linked to NIN, MTN has verified a total of 19 million lines.
Out of these, 4.3 million have been verified, and 4.2 million have been disconnected as of February 28, 2024.
Also, individuals who provided their NINs but were not subsequently validated will likewise be completely barred. If five or more lines are connected to an unverified NIN, then NINs that have been submitted but not validated will be barred on or before March 29, 2024.
Similarly, lines that have less than five connections to an unconfirmed NIN will be blocked by April 15, 2024, at the latest.
In contrast, Airtel and Globacom reported marginal gains in their subscription databases for the month, despite the ongoing disconnection exercise.
