Subscribers jubilate as NCC directs MTN, GLO, others to reconnect barred SIMs

Telecommunications subscribers in Nigeria have applauded the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, for directing Mobile Network Operators, MNOs, to reconnect Subscriber Identification Module, SIM, cards barred from outgoing and incomings calls.

National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers, NATCOMS, National President, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, applauded the NCC for the directive in a telephone interview with DAILY POST on Monday.

This comes after DAILY POST reported that NCC directed all MNOs including MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9mobile to reconnect all consumers disconnected at the weekend over unsuccessful National Identity Number, NIN, and SIM linkage.

Reacting to NCC’s directive to MNOs, Ogunbanjo said the move showed that the regulator is responsive to the plights of Nigerians.

According to him, the directive from NCC is indicative that the disconnection had nothing to do with the planned August 1-10 hardship protest.

“It is a laudable development for NCC to direct MNOs to reconnect telecoms subscribers disconnected over the weekend, so that subscribers won’t say that NCC as a regulator has not done much,” he said.

DAILY POST reports that several subscribers stormed offices and centers of the MNOs on Monday following the disconnection of their lines over the weekend.

The MNOs had, in compliance with an NCC directive, commenced a mandatory linkage of the NIN with SIM cards since December 2020.

The deadline of the exercise, which aimed to curb insecurity in Nigeria, had been postponed on several occasions to give subscribers more time for its implementation.

The latest deadline which is July 31, 2024, was set on April 15.