The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a directive to major telecom operators, including MTN Nigeria and Airtel, instructing them to fully block phone lines without National Identity Numbers (NINs) and those with unverified NINs.
MTN Nigeria revealed the NCC directive and the dates for compliance in a corporate notice that was filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
According to the statement signed by MTN Nigeria’s Company Secretary, Uto Ukpanah, phone lines for which subscribers haven’t submitted their NINs must be barred on or before February 28, 2024.
For NINs that have been submitted but not verified, lines associated with unverified NINs should be barred on or before March 29, 2024, for cases where five or more lines are linked.
If fewer than five lines are linked to an unverified NIN, the barring deadline is April 15, 2024.
Subscribers affected by these measures must undergo verification (biometrics and biodata) before their lines can be unbarred.
This order builds upon the NCC’s earlier rule from April 2022, which required operators to limit outgoing calls for customers whose lines were not linked to NINs.
MTN Nigeria promised affected customers that steps would be taken to improve service outlets’ ability to speed up the process and advised them to submit their NINs for verification as soon as possible.
The company said it is committed to complying with the NCC directive and is willing to collaborate with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to expedite NIN verification.
“As a law-abiding corporate citizen and in line with our operating license requirements, we are committed to complying with the industry-wide directive from the NCC and will provide further updates to investors on progress and potential impact with the release of FY 2023 results,” stated MTN in the notice.
