Telcos announce deadline for second stage of SIM disconnections

Telecommunication companies have insisted they will adhere to the Friday, March 29 2024 date scheduled for the second phase of Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) disconnections.

The directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) comes amid the last disconnection exercise which saw over 40 million unregistered sim cards disconnected from the various Telcos.

The NIN-SIM linkage policy was initially introduced in December 2020 with the FG directing that all telecom operators in the country should disconnect every SIM card not registered with a valid National Identity Number (NIN) by December 30th 2020.

After over five failed attempts to enforce the disconnection, the NCC, in agreement with the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, (ALTON) announced In December 2023, that all Telcos must bar all phone lines without NIN linkage by February 28, 2024.

The first stage of the disconnection exercise took place on February 28, 2024, and the third stage has been scheduled to begin on April 15, 2024. According to the Director of Public Affairs at the NCC, Reuben Mouka, there would be no deadline extension for the disconnection stages.

A statement by the ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo revealed that the first stage of the disconnection which affected about 40 million subscribers was aimed at customers who failed to submit their NINs to operators.

Adebayo revealed that the second stage of disconnections will affect subscribers that have over five SIMs associated with their NIN which have not been verified while the third stage scheduled for April 15, 2024, will affect subscribers that have less than five SIMs linked to an unverified NIN.

The NIN-SIM linkage exercise involves linking the subscriber’s NIN records with the SIM registration information to ensure proper identification.

According to the NCC, there are 224.7 million active mobile telephone lines in the country and the NIMC records show that 104 million NINs have so far been issued.