The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Thursday disassociated itself from an online report which indicated that new telecom subscribers’ base grew by three million in the first quarter of this year despite the ban on SIM card sale, saying the figures are inaccurate and therefore should be totally disregarded by the public.
The commission’s Director, Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, in a statement clarified that the online media report did not reflect the true position of subscribers’ new SIM card registration in the quarter under review.
The NCC Director maintained that online platform relied essentially on a forecast of trends based on Ericsson Mobility Report and did not refer to the NCC or any official channel as source for its data and/or projections.
He stressed that it was, therefore, inaccurate to report that Nigeria recorded 3million new lines in the 1st Quarter of 2021.
The Director further clarified: “We wish to use this opportunity to clarify that the Nigerian Communications Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) are the only authoritative sources of authentic data on the Nigerian telecommunications sector. Indeed, the Commission is well aware of the critical need to make accurate and up-to-date data available to all Stakeholders.
“Indeed, as a matter of corporate policy and consistent with international best practice, relevant data and statistics on the industry are transparently reported and regularly updated on the Commission’s website for free use by interested stakeholders.
“The Commission encourages all Stakeholders to visit its website for authentic data on the sector and to refer all doubts to its Public Affairs Department to avoid unnecessary controversy and/or inadvertently misleading other Stakeholders who may rely on such reports.
“The Commission also urges Stakeholders to disregard any information on subscriber data different from those presented in the Commission’s website”, Adinde added.
It would be recalled that the commission had announced the suspension on the registration of new subscribers effective from December 9, 2020 and was only lifted in May, 2021.
