'Increment!' NIN currently has 180 million phone lines connected to it, Danbatta says

Over 180 million telephone lines are now linked with the National Identity Numbers, according to Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NIN).

Danbatta stated this during a public hearing and inquiry on the proposed draft regulations on telephone subscriber registration, sim replacement, and spectrum allocation for the year 2021 in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to him, the figure came as a result of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) capturing nearly 60 million Nigerians in the National Identity Numbers (NIN) database.

“The NIN-SIM linkages so far are 180 million subscribers. When you look at the number of SIMs tied to a NIN, you have about 3-4, which translates to 180 million subscribers whose SIMs are linked to their NIN,” he said.

He went on to say that the telecoms industry has recovered, with broadband penetration reaching 41% and active telephone subscribers increasing by over a million.

The federal government announced in July that the NIN-SIM integration exercise would be extended until October 31. The previous deadline of July 26, 2021 has been pushed out. NCC reported 59.8 million unique NIN enrolments at the time, with an average of three to four SIMs per NIN.

Speaking on recently approved fifth-generation (5G) technology, Danbatta said the commission had put everything in place to auction five slots of 5G spectrum.

“When I appeared before the senate on our readiness for 5G deployment, I said we were 95 percent, but right now we are 97 percent,” he said.

Adeleke Adewolu, NCC executive commissioner, stakeholders management, said that the public hearing and inquiry on the spectrum trading guidelines, sim registration guidelines and telephone users guidelines would help improve the industry.

Adewolu appealed to the commission to look into the N200,000 penalty for an active unregistered line and review it upward to serve as a deterrent.

“These spectrum trading guidelines, telephone users guidelines and SIM replacement guidelines will help to guarantee growth in the industry,” he said.