The Nigerian Communications Commission is reportedly insisting on barring subscribers with four lines and above whose SIM registration data failed to match their National Identity Number data today, March 29.
A source told Vanguard that the commission's management reached the decision at a crucial meeting held yesterday, March 28, to review requests from the telcos for an extension of the verification of NINs submitted.
It was also disclosed that the Commission is mulling the idea of approving an online application solution for MNOs where their subscribers whose NIN verification failed due to biometric mismatch can update their records on the app while existing subscribers can register additional lines.
The statement read;
"We are not standing back on our decision. March 29th is sacrosanct. Our resolve is hinged on the need to close in on the chaos of untoward ownership of multiple SIM cards with unverified NIN details.
''We have instances where a single individual has over 10,000 lines linked to his NIN. In some cases, we have seen a single person with 1,000 lines, some 3,000 plus lines. What are they doing with these lines?
"From our interim findings, the owners of these lines did not purchase them for decent purposes or to undertake legitimate activities.
"We have given them enough time to make the decision of which of their lines they want to keep and discard the others. They did not. All lines in this category with unverified NINs will be barred. They will be then expected to go to their operators and decide which of the lines they want to keep, as well as submit correct NIN details.
"Some people would say they want to use it for car trackers, or IoTs, but provision has been made for these services already. They are not under the 'Max-4 Rule.'
Across the world, no country allows you to have 1,000 SIM cards to make calls or texts."
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