March 06, (THEWILL) – There are concerns among the Nigerian telecommunication subscribers over the recent disclosure by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that over 40 million telephone lines have been blocked and also face the risk of being forfeited soon.
Reuben Mouka, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, who disclosed this in a statement said the telephone lines barred by their telecommunication operators have breached the February 28, 2024 deadline issued by the commission mandating telecom customers to link their Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) to their NIN.
He said, “If the barred lines are not acted upon in the next 180 days. They won’t be able to receive calls but will only be able to text and make calls. But after the stipulated days, they would be barred from making calls too. And might forfeit their lines to their respective service provider within 365 days.”
“The people whose lines are barred need to enroll for their NIN if they don’t have one at any of the registered centers. They can then take the number to their network providers to get their numbers restored.
“The implication of not verifying their numbers will have them forfeited,” he added.
The NCC chief while speaking with The PUNCH Online in an interview maintained that the retrieval of lines is only done by the network providers who are saddled with the responsibility.
While fielding questions on the possibility of taking advantage of the registration of linking at least 28 lines to a NIN, the NCC spokesperson noted that whoever links such SIM that is used to perpetrate evil or crime will be called to answer for it as their identity will be traced as the perpetrator.
He therefore warned against such acts while urging Nigerians to link their NIN before the lines are forfeited.
It is estimated that the over 40 million lines barred represent a 28 million increase from the 12 million telephone lines initially planned to be deactivated by telcos, following the NCC directive.
In a December 2023 notice, the NCC had asked telcos to bar SIMs that had not been linked to their owners’ NINs by February 28, 2024.
Meanwhile, Muoka ruled out an extension of the deadline, warning that telcos that failed to enforce the deadline would be sanctioned.
THEWILL visited some service centres of the major telecom companies in Lagos – MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9Mobile – where angry customers expressed concern over the fate of their telephone lines which they have used for many years, now facing the risk of being blocked and forfeited.
Some subscribers slam the telecom operators for their inefficient management of the process as they claim they had concluded the SIM-NIN linkage a long time ago and it was confirmed successful.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
