The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has allayed fears of Nigerians on speculations that there would be mass disconnection of telephone subscribers’ lines. The commission stated that the apprehension was due to the ongoing linkage of SIM registration records with the National Identity Number (NIN).
The Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, in a statement empahsised that it was erroneous to assume that for every network or SIM connection, there was one unique human subscriber. This, according to him, is because machines such as Point of Sales(PoS),
Routers, Wi-Fi devices, electricity meters, CCTV and tracking devices also use SIM cards.. Adinde said: “With the advent of social media and app-driven digital environment, network subscription went beyond human subscribers to include machines like PoS, Routers, Wi-Fi devices, electricity meters, CCTV, tracking devices etc.
“A recent survey conducted in Nigeria has shown that on average, there are now approximately four to five SIMs to every human subscriber. This explains the basis of allowing the linkage of up to seven SIMs to one unique NIN in the recently launched Federal Government portal.
