The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has vehemently denied any connection between the ongoing subscriber line barring exercise and the planned national protest.
In a statement released today and signed by Engr. Gbenga Adebayo and Gbolahan Awonuga, the association’s Chairman and Executive Secretary respectively, ALTON clarified that the line barring is part of the ongoing harmonization process between the SIM Registration database and the National Identity Database.
This exercise, which has been in progress for several months, aims to enhance the integrity of the national SIM registration database.
The association explained that customers whose lines have been blocked recently have been identified as having mismatches between their records on both databases. ALTON advised affected customers to contact their service providers for resolution.
To alleviate concerns about the inconvenience caused by line barring, ALTON assured the public that all operators have implemented procedures to allow customers to unblock their lines by following simple steps.
The statement emphasized that the line-barring exercise is a routine process to ensure the security of the telecommunications network and is unrelated to the planned protest.
ALTON urged the public to disregard any rumors linking the two events.
Meanwhile, under listed are the procedures by various network operators on how to unbar their line
- Airtel: Dial *121# and input your eleven-digit NIN number. The subscriber will receive a confirmation message that you have successfully unbarred your Airtel SIM card.
- EMTS: 9Mobile: Dial *200*8#
- Glo: Dial *109*Your NIN number# For example if your NIN is 12345678901, you would dial *109*12345678901# Then follow the prompts to submit your NIN for linkage.
- MTN: If an MTN line is barred, all the subscriber needs do is visit nin.mtn.ng, to check the NIN status, and if not linked, proceed to link it. During the process, an OTP would be requested, as well as the NIN. After giving consent and submitting the NIN linking request, it will be done and the line will be automatically
unbarred.
- Smile: Send your valid NIN to customercare@smile.com.ng or call 07020444444, you will be asked to provide consent, and upon receipt of customer consent and successful verification of NIN, the line will be unbarred.
- Spectranet: Call toll-free line 8002345678 and submit your NIN but will have to get your KYC done at Spectranet Store. Customer can email us at care@spectranet.com.ng and submit their NIN but will have to submit their KYC at Spectranet Store. Customer can go to Spectranet website and submit their NIN online but to complete the process they will have to do KYC at Spectranet Store.
- Ntel: Customer should visit any Ntel store with their NIN, fingerprint is used to call up their existing KYC profile with Ntel for verification, consent is received and the line is updated and unbarred.
In case these online steps fail, subscribers can physically visit any walk-in centres of operators, to unblock their lines.