40 Million Telephone Lines Barred Over SIM-NIM Linkage Failure – ALTON

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has revealed that over 40 million telephone lines have been barred for failure to link Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) with National Identity Numbers (NINs).

Adebayo, who made this known on Sunday, said the action was in compliance with the February 28 deadline given for subscribers to link their SIM with NINs for proper identification.

“I can also tell you that over 40 million lines have been blocked, and the affected customers are those who didn’t submit their NIN at all,” Adebayo stated.

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He explained that these subscribers did not submit their NINs to telecom operators.

In December 2023, the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) ordered that telecom providers implement a complete network barring of all SIMs that had not yet submitted a NIN.

In the first phase of disconnections, the regulator instructed telecoms to ban SIMs that have not filed their NINs by February 28, 2024.