NCC Denies Mass Disconnection of Telephone Lines

Applicants queue to obtain national identity numbers at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) office, in the Lagos state capital of Ikeja, on December 30, 2020. – Nigerians have appealed to the government for further extension of deadline for the blocking of mobile SIM cards without national identity numbers as millions of subscribers are yet to obtain their identity numbers. Following the surge to meet the deadline by millions of unregistered subscribers, the Nigerian Communications Commission announced last week of an extention untill February 9, to block mobile SIM cards of citizens without national identity numbers, while subscribers that have obtained their identity numbers have until January 19, 2021 to link their mobile SIM cards with their national identity numbers. Nigeria has given a deadline for telecoms operators to register mobile phone users, amid concerns that unregistered SIM cards are being used by criminals and insurgents, the government said. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP)

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has denied the mass disconnection of subscribers.

The clarification was contained in a statement issued yesterday by its Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde.

It read: “The attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been drawn to numerous publications in both print and electronic media regarding the unfounded fears of mass disconnection of telephone subscribers as a result of the ongoing linkage of SIM registration records with the National Identity Number (NIN).

“It is, therefore, necessary for the commission to issue this clarification to allay fears of subscribers and the general public.”

The regulator noted that most of the publications were based on the erroneous assumption that for every network or SIM connection, there was a unique human subscriber.

NCC explained that with the advent of social media and app-driven digital environment, network subscriptions went beyond human subscribers to include machines like PoS, routers, Wi-Fi devices, electricity meters, CCTV, and tracking devices.

According to the agency, a recent survey conducted in Nigeria showed that on average, there are approximately four to five SIMs to every human subscriber.

This, it noted, explained the basis for linkage of up to seven SIMs to one unique NIN in the recently launched Federal Government portal.

NCC went on: “Thus, if there are 43 million Nigerians with NINs, this could account for about 172 million SIMs already linked to NINs.

“It is very important to emphasize that the current exercise of linking NIN to SIM(s) is for the common good of all Nigerians, as it has far-reaching benefits.”

Source