Active mobile subscriptions in Nigeria rose to 219.7 million in February 2024 pushed by huge gains recorded by the two largest operators by subscribers, MTN and Airtel.
This was revealed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in the latest industry statistics released on Monday. The increase came after the operators had lost over 6 million subscriptions in January due to the implementation of the NIN-SIM directive of the NCC.
From 224.4 million in December 2023, active subscriptions across the four mobile networks had plunged to 218 million in January 2024.
While Globacom also recorded a slight increase in subscriptions for the month, struggling fourth mobile operator, 9mobile sank deeper as it recorded a decline in subscriptions.
Meanwhile, the telecom operators are expected to disconnect more lines this month, which may lead to a decline in the country’s mobile subscriptions.
According to a directive issued by the NCC in December last year, all telecommunications operators in Nigeria, including MTN, Airtel, and Globacom, among others are to implement full network barring on all phone lines for which the subscribers have not submitted their national identification numbers (NINs) by February 28, 2024.
The NCC’s directive also asked telecommunications companies to bar lines whose NINs have been submitted but not verified by March 29, 2024 and bar those with less than five lines linked to an unverified NIN by April 15, 2024.
The enforcement of the compulsory linking of NIN with mobile lines is part of the government’s effort to boost security in the country. The move aims to mitigate the potential misuse of multiple SIM cards for illicit activities.