Numerous MTN Nigeria subscribers have taken to social media to decry the telecom’s decision to bar their telephone lines over NIN-SIM linkage without prior warning.
Many users of the South African telephone service provider woke up to the reality that they could not make or receive telephone calls or access the Internet.
An affected subscriber, Shina, informed Technext that he became aware of his line’s status when he tried to make a telephone call early in the day: “I just heard a voice prompt that informed me that my line has been barred because I failed to link my NIN to my line. It also told me to visit the nearest MTN shop to reconnect my line”, the source added.
This reflects the experience of many other subscribers who have taken particularly to social media platform, X to complain. Many users indicated that they noticed the action in the early hours of this morning. Most of them claimed that they had completed the linkage exercise in the past with pieces of evidence.
Our source corroborated their sentiment. According to him, he became an MTN subscriber after the NIN-SIM linkage crisis of 2022. He recalled that he provided his NIN number as part of the required steps for joining the MTN network during the onboarding process.
“I remember that asked me to write down my NIN number as part of the porting process from my previous network. I even. recall that the process could not be completed the same day because they claimed that the NIMC portal was down. I do not understand how that exercise does not qualify as an NIN-SIM linkage”, he shared.
Some subscribers are alleging (maybe hoping) that this is possibly a technical hitch from the network provider’s system that will fixed anytime soon. “I believe that is a temporary issue that will be fixed soon”, Judy A said on X.
On the contrary, some subscribers are suggesting that this might be the cause for a switch to another network service provider. “Seeing My MTN trending with complains of users that they have been bared/blocked . For whatever reason it could be, It is their loss”, @_realkingsley said on X.
MTN is yet to issue an official statement on the development.
