The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the nation’s telecoms industry regulator, has reported that a total of 301.5 million lines were connected to mobile network operators’ (MNOs’) networks nationwide as of May 2022.
However, the just published report by the commission indicated that only 204.2 million of the numbers were in active use, thereby implying that 97.3 million lines were inactive as of the end of last month.
Although the number of inactive lines across the networks still remained high, the number of the inactive lines had been decreasing significantly over the last 10 months. For instance, as of August 2021, inactive lines across the networks stood at 139 million.
Industry analysts observe that while the MNOs have always had inactive lines increasing along with the increase in active users and new activations, the regulatory directive which banned new SIM card registration as well as the inability of many subscribers to retrieve their lines between December 9, 2020, and April 19, 2021 due to SIM-NIN integration directive, accentuated the inactive lines surge as the months roll by.
According to the experts, the recent gradual reduction in the number of inactive lines could be attributable to a new SIM policy introduced recently by the industry regulator.
The commission in its recently introduced number management policy maintained that subscribers whose lines remained inactive for 12 months would forfeit them.
In addition, it further directed, through the policy, that “subscriber numbers that have not generated revenue by originating calls will automatically be recovered after 12 consecutive months.”
A mobile line is regarded as inactive if it is not used by the subscriber to make or receive calls and/or access data services for a minimum of 90 days. Such lines are separated from active lines as they generate no revenue for telecom operators within the stated period.
