Telecommunications operators in the country have said they will comply with the directive issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to block calls and texts from phone numbers that are yet to be linked to national identity numbers (NIN) despite of the huge financial losses that action is expected to inflict.
The chairman of the association of licensed telecoms companies of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, in a said their members are more concerned about the implementation of the federal government directive than monetary losses, citing the security risk associated with non-compliance.
The Telcos are, however, very mindful of the financial hit they’re about to take, with one source saying “Recall the partial ban placed by the Federal Government via the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on calls originating from SIMs not linked to NIN had taken a terrific toll on mobile network operators’ (MNOs’) revenue.
“Recall also that the stoppage of the registration of new SIM cards about two or three years ago had also negatively impacted the industry. Now we are talking about totally shutting out several millions of active subscribers out of the network. In the business, telcos make money from voice calls and data but when these two major revenue sources are completely severed, losses are inevitable. The scale cannot readily be ascertained now because the exercise is still ongoing.”
The director of Public Affairs at NCC, Reuben Muoka, had insisted that the directive for disconnection is being rolled out in stages, with the second phase set for 29 March as earlier announced. He said the initial phase took place at the end of February.
He said: “We issued a publication that you can refer to. We specified certain deadlines and stipulated that subscribers who do not comply with the directive would be barred. And that has not changed.’’
“29th of February was when those that have not submitted their NIN to be linked to the SIM to be barred and those that have been barred.
“We published another deadline for those who have submitted their NIN, but it failed because it has not been verified, that is the one that is due for disconnection today. While another set is the ones with ghost verification, these are for those who have more than five numbers.”
