Figures from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) show that Nigeria added four million voice subscribers in the first quarter of 2022.
This is despite the challenges of verifying and linking Subscriber Identity Module, (SIM) to the The National Identity Number (NIN)
The figures obtained from the website of the commission show that from January to March 2022, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the country acquired a total of 4,094,642 new mobile phone subscribers.
The report also said active telephony subscriptions in Nigeria rose to 199,558,540 in March 2022, from 195,463,898 in December 2021, while connected lines also rose from 306,962,099 in January to 307,654,965 in March.
This was at a time when agencies such as the Nigerian Immigration Service, telecommunications providers and banks were affected by this downtime which made it impossible to verify their customers’ NIN, in line with the Federal Government’s directive.
Recall that the Federal government had directed telecommunication companies, telcos- MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile to bar all outgoing calls from unlinked Subscriber Identification Module cards, SIMs from April 2022