Telecom companies in Nigeria including MTN, Airtel, and Globacom have advised all subscribers, whose Subscriber Identity Module, SIM cards are yet to be linked with their National Identity Numbers, NIN, to do so before February 28, 2024, or lose the numbers permanently. This came as the umbrella body of the telcos, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) yesterday, said it had agreed to abide by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) directive to delist telephone lines without NIN.
The NCC said all affected subscribers must be verified (biometrics and biodata) before their lines are unbarred.
Recall that the NCC, on April 4, 2022, directed operators to restrict outgoing calls (one-way barring) for subscribers whose lines are not linked with NINs. The affected subscribers were advised to verify their NINs before being reactivated.
However, the telcos said, despite the limited service restriction, millions of subscribers have yet to submit their NINs for verification.
Consequently, the NCC issued another directive on December 15, 2023, for telecommunications operators to commence full network barring of the affected MSISDNs on the effective dates.
