The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed telecommunications operators to implement full blockage of all subscribers identification module (SIM) cards not linked to national identification numbers (NINs) by February 28, 2024. The operators, including MTN, Airtel, Globacom, 9mobile, among others have been lettered to carry out the exercise as directed. Telecoms operators in Nigeria have about 220 million subscriptions, of which MTN has 85 million; Glo, 61 million; Airtel, 60 million and 9mobile, 13 million. The mandatory NIN-SIM Linkage exercise began in December 2020 as directed by the Federal Government. The telecoms operators have already lost over 20 million subscriptions as some subscribers abandoned their lines. However, operators, with several promo packages, including free airtime incentives, recovered some lines as more Nigerians registered for NIN. However, findings showed that about 10 million are yet to be recovered. The new directive might cost operators more subscriptions. In a letter sent to its shareholders, and made available to journalists, yesterday, MTN disclosed that it received a formal directive from the NCC to implement full network barring on all phone lines for which the subscribers have not submitted their NINs as well as those whose NINs are unverified. MTN said this was part of an industry-wide directive that requires phone lines for which the subscribers have not submitted their NINs to be barred on or before February 28, 2024. The firm explained that about NINs that have been submitted but not verified, such lines are to be barred on or before March 29, 2024, where five or more lines are linked to an unverified NIN. Similarly, it disclosed that where less than five lines are linked to an unverified NIN, such lines are to be barred on or before April 15, 2024. “All affected subscribers must be verified (biometrics and biodata) before their lines are unbarred,” MTN stated. The telecommunications firm explained that this is a follow-up to the NCC’s directive on April 4, 2022, requiring operators to restrict outgoing calls (one-way barring) for subscribers whose lines are not associated with NINs.