*Telcos Bar Unlinked Lines Ahead Of July 31 Deadline, Protest

THE Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has insisted that its members were trying to frustrate the proposed nationwide protest by barring subscriber whose SIMs/lines were not linked to their National Identification Numbers (NINs) or were they restricting Internet access.

Chairman of ALTON, Mr Gbenga Adebayo, said it was just coincidental that the barring of lines by telecommunications companies was coming at a time of the planned protest between August 1 and 10 to demand government’s solutions to rising cost of living and economic hardship in the country.

At the same time, some subscribers have had their lines barred by their telcos, even after undertaking the NIN-SIM linkage, leading to complaints by subscribers, some of who alleged that telcos were trying to restrict citizens’ access to Internet to frustrate the planned protest.

ALTON is the official industry body for all providers of telecommunications and subsidiary services in Nigeria and its membership include all the major telecommunications licensees in Nigeria, particularly those providing voice and data telephony, as well as ancillary and other related value-added services.

Adebayo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN): “I have received enquiries about this issue. No organisation or association is barring lines because of the proposed protest.

“It is coincidental that the barring of lines is coming at a time a protest is being planned. We have no hand at all in what is going on about the protest.

“Telecommunications companies are service providers and provide service on non-discriminatory. Our hands are clean.

Go to your network service provider and your issue will be addressed.”

He  explained that the barring of lines had to do with NIN integration, saying it was the mobile lines of those that had not integrated their NINs with their SIMs that were being barred, urging those affected to go to their network call centres to have their issues addressed, reiterating that ALTCON members were obliged to provide uninterrupted service to everybody on a non-discriminatory basis.

Also reacting to the issue, President of National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATS), Mr. Adeolu Ogunbanjo, said barring of lines was not done to frustrate anybody or group, recalling that there was a recent announcement on the matter, but many subscribers did not take heed to it.

“The number of NIN that is not properly done is alarming, and when you ask the affected persons, they will say I went to a kiosk somewhere or something similar to do my NIN registration.

“Many do not use their real names, some go to fake centres to do their NIN registration. The bottom line is that proper registration was not done.

“I implore everybody to do the needful and go to recognised NIN centres,” he said.

He urged those who have not properly registered their NIN to visit the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) nearest to them to remedy the situation.

    Recall that the disconnection process, which began in February this year, was rolled out in three phases. The first phase occurred on February 28, followed by the second phase on Friday, March 29.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had directed telecommunications companies to extend the disconnection of telephone lines not linked to National Identification Numbers (NIN) from April 15 to July 31.

During the initial deadline on February 28, the industry regulator said about 40 million lines not linked to NINs were barred.

Across the country, subscribers besieged the offices and call centres of MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile to beat the deadline.

The number of desperate subscribers at the centres increased as the date drew nearer, with long queues observed and some crowd became rowdy and sometimes uncontrollable, just as some customers expressed frustration of not being attended to or on time.

While the exact figures of affected lines across the networks were yet to be released, Airtel, in its quarterly results released on Friday, July 26, said the NINs of 4.9 million of its customers were yet to be verified.