Over 63 million telephone lines have been disconnected in about a year, data from the Nigerian Communications Commission has shown.
The number of connected lines in the country as of October 2021 stood at 229,582,206. This represents a 23 per cent decline from the number of connected lines which stood at 300,042,650 in December 2020 before the directive for the compulsory linkage of the National Identity Number (NIM) to the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) was announced.
The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) had in December, 2020 directed all telecoms to suspend mobile numbers of people without a NIN before 2021.
However, the deadline has since been extended several times by the Federal Government in a bid to allow more Nigerians link their NIN with their SIM. The latest extension expires before the end of 2021.
With the deadline day fast approaching, data obtained from the official website of NCC suggested that the compulsory NIN-SIM linkage may have taken its toll on network users in the country.
Further data obtained from the website showed that out of the total 229,582,206 connected lines, only 191,618,839 were active lines as of October 2021. This also represents a 7.69 per cent decrease from the 204,228,678 active lines recorded in December 2020.
Industry experts who spoke with the media have attributed the decline to the recent polices in the Communications sector of the country.
The experts who described the NIN-SIM as a step in the right direction noted that the policy could affect the growth of the telecommunication sector.
