•ALTON distances action from the planned protest

Reprieve may have come the way of subscribers caught up in the SIM suspension crises as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has ordered all telecommunication companies to reactivate all lines barred over issues surrounding the linking and verification of National Identification Numbers (NIN) linked with SIMs.

The NCC, however, emphasised that, the unbarring directive is to reactivate all lines that were disconnected over the weekend given the short time available for consumers to undertake the verification of their NINs.

This development is coming after the NCC, which had earlier given the telecoms operators a July 31 deadline to bar all lines with unverified NINs.

Besides, the new order may not be unconnected with the planned protest and the claims that the government was trying to frustrate the protest through telecommunications.

NCC, in a statement, yesterday, signed by the Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, noted that even though subscribers were barred because they had not verified their NINs with their SIMs, it has now directed operators to reactivate all lines that were disconnected at the weekend.

“The consumer is our priority, therefore, considering the challenges the blockages have caused, the Commission has directed all operators to reactivate all lines that were disconnected over the weekend given the short time available for consumers to undertake the verification of their NINs with their SIMs. Reactivated consumers are to note that this is for a limited period to allow them to properly link their NIN to their SIM.

“Members of the public who are yet to verify their SIMs are encouraged to do so as soon as possible to maintain access to their lines,” NCC stated.

In a related development, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has debunked the speculation that the latest barring of SIMs was an attempt to frustrate the planned protest scheduled to start August 1.

ALTON in a statement signed by Chairman and Executive Secretary, Gbenga Adebayo, and Gbolahan Awonuga, respectively, said: “There’s no connection between the two. The NIN/SIM link registration deadline has earlier been set for 31st July, 2024.”

The telecoms body said the fact of the matter is that the harmonisation exercise of the SIM Registration database and National Identity Database has been ongoing for several months. He said this is aimed at improving the integrity of the National SIM registration database.

“Customers, who had their lines blocked recently, are those whom their service providers found a mismatch between their records on both databases. We advise such customers to contact their service providers through communicated channels for resolution of the issue,” ALTON stated.