Airtel Nigeria, the country’s second-biggest telecom operator, stated that about 5.7 million of its subscribers had yet to link their SIM cards to their National Identification Numbers, as required by the government.
The Nigerian Communications Commission had set a deadline for the SIM-NIN linkage, but extended it to July 31, 2024, to give subscribers more time to comply.
The operator, part of India’s Bharti Airtel, said in its financial report for the quarter ending March 2024 that it was engaging with the affected customers to ensure a smooth verification process.
The telco noted in its report, “Airtel Nigeria has complied with the directives issued and barred all customers without NINs as well as customers with more than four active SIMs, which had a very negligible impact on revenue.
“Currently, we are engaging with approximately 5.7 million customers whose NINs have yet to be verified. Since the directive was issued in December 2023, 7.9 million customers have already been verified,” the telco said.
In December 2023, the NCC informed Airtel Nigeria, in an industry-wide directive, to undertake full network barring of all SIMs that had failed to submit their NINs on or before February 28, 2024.
Likewise, customers who have submitted their NINS but remain unverified are to be barred by July 31, 2024, instead of the earlier deadline of April 15, 2024.
Furthermore, the NCC issued guidelines that no customer should have more than four active SIMs, and all such excess SIMs would be barred by March 29.
This directive is part of the ongoing Federal Government NIN-SIM harmonisation exercise requiring all subscribers to provide valid NIN information to update SIM registration records.
The operator reaffirmed its commitment to complying with regulatory directives and ensuring the security and integrity of its customers’ data.
The SIM-NIN linkage exercise is aimed at enhancing national security and curbing fraud in the telecommunications sector.
“We continue to engage with the NCC and work closely with the relevant authorities to facilitate and accelerate the verification process to minimise the risk of service disruption to these customers while also limiting the revenue impact from our compliance with the directive issued,” Airtel noted.
As of March, there were 219 million active mobile lines in Nigeria, with Airtel accounting for 63 million subscribers, according to NCC data.
Meanwhile, MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecom operator, reported that it had barred 8.6 million lines in its first-quarter 2024 financial report.
The barred lines belong to subscribers who failed to provide their NIN or had more than five lines linked to an unverified NIN, MTN said.(Punch)
