MTN Nigeria barred 8.6 million subscribers from its services in the first half of 2024 for failing to comply with a government directive to link their National Identification Numbers to their Subscriber Identity Module.
The country’s largest mobile operator disclosed in its half-year financial results for the period ended June 30, 2024, that affected subscribers were not able to make phone calls, send texts, and access data services.
“Despite barring 8.6 million subscribers during H1, in line with the NCC directive, we managed to limit the decline in our base to 280,000, resulting in a 2.9 per cent year-on-year increase in our customers to 79.4 million,” the report stated.
The Nigerian Communications Commission, the telecom regulator, introduced the NIN-SIM linkage directive in 2020 to enhance national security and reduce fraudulent activities.
Since December 2023, the commission has repeatedly reviewed the deadline for implementing this directive. Initially, the deadline was set for April 15, 2024, for barring subscribers with four or fewer SIMs with unverified NIN details.
However, the deadline was later extended to July 31, 2024, to provide consumers with more time to verify their NIN details.
MTN reported that it barred additional subscribers with fewer than five lines linked to unverified NINs ahead of the deadline, sparking widespread outrage among subscribers on Monday.
In response to the outrage, the NCC instructed telecom operators to reactivate the affected lines, giving subscribers more time for verification.
MTN confirmed in its report that it had complied with this directive and reactivated the affected lines.
In a separate incident, MTN’s office in FESTAC, Lagos, was vandalised on Monday, leading the operator to shut down its operations nationwide on Tuesday. However, MTN reversed its decision and resumed operations on Wednesday.
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