By Juliet Umeh
Following the disengagement of some telephone lines by some telecommunication service operators, telcos, over national identification number-subscriber identity module, NIN-SIM linkage deadline, a subscriber group, National Association of Telecoms Subscribers of Nigeria, NATCOMS, has threatened court action against the telcos.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had earlier directed telcos operators in Nigeria, including MTN, Airtel, and Globacom, among others, to implement full network barring on all phone lines for which subscribers had not submitted their NINs and those without verified NINs by February 28, 2024.
The NCC further said that NINs that had been submitted but not verified, such lines were to be barred on or before March 29, 2024, same as in cases where five or more lines are linked to an unverified NIN.
Also, where less than five lines are linked to an unverified NIN, such lines are to be barred on or before April 15, 2024.
However, before the stipulated time, the operators have started barring affected subscribers lines.
For instance, Mr. Ugo Akaolisa said that he had done his NIN-SIM linkage but was surprised when he could not call or receive calls only to go to the customer Care centre and was told his line had been barred.
He said that he was disappointed hearing that having painstakingly done his NIN-SIM registration/linkage earlier, his phone number was barred for the same reason.
He however said that, after redoing the linking at the customer service centre, his line was restored.
Reacting to the development, NATCOMS President, Mr. Deolu Ogunbanjo said barring subscribers before the stipulated time is unacceptable.
He advised the telcos to reverse their decision or risk court action by the group.
He said a lot of the members affected by the decision of the telcos are business people and the action makes them lose millions of naira every day thus the need for the group to take action against telcos.
Ogunbanjo said the NCC would meet key stakeholders in the sector this week, promising the issue would be raised at the meeting and he will come back to his members with positive news.
He however, urged subscribers who have not linked their SIMs to do so to avoid barring their phone numbers at end of the grace time even though the group seeks for an extension of the deadline.
On his own part, the President, Association of Telephone, Cable Tv and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria (ATCIS) said he baffles him that up till now about 12.9 million subscribers have not done their NIN-SIM linkage.
He said this is not encouraging and urged subscribers to do their NIN-SIM linkage. However, he added that barring subscribers lines before the stipulated time is uncalled for and urged telcos to follow the NCC directives.
