MTN Nigeria disclosed in its Q1 2024 financial report that it deactivated over 8.6 million lines as part of compliance with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) directive issued on February 28, 2024. This directive mandated telecommunication companies to disconnect SIM cards not linked to National Identity Numbers (NINs). The impact of this action on the quarter’s operations was highlighted in the report.
MTN specifically noted that subscribers with more than five lines linked to unverified NINs and those who had not submitted their NINs were affected by the complete disconnection of their lines.
Furthermore, the NCC extended the deadline from April 15 to July 31, 2024, allowing users with fewer than five lines connected to unverified NINs additional time to complete the verification process.
Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, addressed the operational effects of the NIN-SIM linkage exercise and regulatory directives on the telecom sector. He emphasized that despite the full disconnection of 8.6 million subscribers in line with the directive, MTN managed to minimize the net impact on its total subscriber base, which decreased by 2 million to 77.7 million by the end of Q1 2024.
Toriola attributed this to effective customer value management (CVM) initiatives, which contributed to reduced churn rates, improved customer loyalty, and an overall increase in total connections.
According to information provided by the NCC, the collective active mobile subscriptions of MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile in Nigeria decreased from 224.4 million in December 2023 to 219 million by March 2024 due to the enforcement of mandatory NIN-SIM registration across all telecom service providers.
Toriola also acknowledged a decline in MTN’s data subscribers during the quarter, noting a marginal decrease of approximately 78,000 to 44.5 million active data subscribers. Despite these challenges, he highlighted positive growth in voice and data traffic, with voice traffic rising by 5.1% and data traffic by 40.6%. This growth was supported by ongoing investments in network quality, coverage expansion, and attractive customer offerings.