By Chinenye Anuforo [email protected]
On Friday, March 29, 2024, telecommunications companies (Telcos) in Nigeria will begin another round of disconnection after the first round that recorded 42 million Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards disabled.
Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), and spokesperson for Telcos, Gbenga Adebayo, had earlier told reporters shortly after the February 28, disconnection exercise that the next phase of disconnection will take place Mach 29, with another phase coming up April 15, 2024, according to the directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator.
The exercise which began to take effect February 28, 2024 is an ongoing process which the federal government designed to checkmate activities of bandits, kidnappers and other criminals who breach the country’s peaceful security atmosphere with their activities.
A very reliable NCC source, who confirmed the fresh rounds of disconnection, however told Daily Sun that the next disconnection exercise would be massive because several subscribers have not been able to link their SIM cards to their National Identification Number (NIN). The source also said the disconnection exercise would help address several anomalies in the NIN enrolment and NIN-SIM linkage exercises.
Investigation into the exercise, showed that there were massive duplications of SIM cards and NINs traced to single individuals, where a single individual could register as much as 1,000 SIM cards with multiple NINs, a development that negates the security architecture of the country.
The March 29 disconnection exercise would be focused on subscribers that have more than five registered SIM cards that are attached to unverified NIN, while the April 15 disconnection exercise would be focused on subscribers that have less than five registered SIM cards that are attached to unverified NIN.
The February 28 disconnection exercise, where 42 million SIM cards were disconnected in five days, was focused on subscribers whose SIM cards were connected to devices such as MiFi and tablets, but were not linked to their NIN.
NCC therefore urged telecoms subscribers with multiple SIM cards to link such SIMs to their NIN before Friday Mach 29 and April 15, to avoid disconnection.
Although telecoms operators are pushing for extension of the deadlines, to avoid the huge revenue loss they suffered after the February 28 disconnection exercise, where several SIM cards belonging to their valued customers were barred, but NCC said there would be no extension of deadline.
NCC however said it may give some considerations to telecoms operators who have empirical data to show that their subscribers who have not been able to link their SIM cards to their NIN, have made efforts to do so, but encountered some network resistance.
Some of the operators had earlier disclosed that they suffered huge revenue loss from disconnecting their valued customers who could not link their SIM cards to their NIN because of network challenges emanating from the backend of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
Adebayo however said telecoms operators have commenced the immediate reconnection of SIM cards of those subscribers that have been able to submit their NINs, and had them linked and verified, adding that the reconnection exercise is ongoing.
NCC, had last December, gave orders to telecoms operators to commence full barring of all unregistered and improperly registered SIM cards on their networks that have not been linked to the NIN of the SIM card holder.
The telecoms regulator had also insisted that the implementation exercise must be carried out in full by the telcos.