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Telecoms operators have concluded the first phase of Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card disconnection, with plans to begin the second phase disconnection on March 31, THISDAY learnt yesterday. It followed the disconnection of 42 million SIM cards in five days, beginning from February 28, according to directives from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and spokesperson for Telcos, Gbenga Adebayo, who spoke yesterday, told THISDAY in a telephone conversation that the Telcos had concluded on the first phase of disconnection of 42 million SIM cards. According to him, the disconnected 42 million SIM cards were registered before 2022 to devices such as Mifi and Tablets, but the subscribers who registered the SIMs, failed to submit their NIN for those registered SIMs. He however said the second phase of SIM card disconnection, which would begin March 31, would be focused on subscribers who submitted their NIN but the name on the NIN did not correspond with the names on the multiple SIM cards that are linked to the NIN. “All SIM cards without NIN have been disconnected, and it took us five days to disconnect 42 million of such SIM cards, according to the regulatory directive from NCC.”

THISDAY