Est. read time: 2 minutes
NIN-SIM Linkage: Airtel Suffers 7% Revenue Loss Over 8.5million Non-Compliant Subscribers
Fred Omotara, Lagos
Airtel Nigeria has said that it suffered 7 percent revenue loss over the non-compliance to the Federal Government NIN-SIM Linkage policy by 8.5million of it’s subscribers.
In its financial report for the year, ended March 2022, Airtel Africa, the parent company of Airtel Nigeria noted that only 35.9 million out of its 44.4 million active customers had linked their NIN with their SIMs as of the end of April 2022, about one month since the barring.
According to findings, the affected 8.5million subscribers have been placed on ‘receive only’ status, meaning all their outgoing calls would not go through but would receive incoming calls.
Airtel noted that the number of its customers that were yet to link their NIN had affected its revenue for the year by 7 percent.
According to the Airtel Africa report, “As of the end of April 2022, we have collated NIN information for 35.9 million active customers. Outgoing voice revenues for those active subscribers who have not yet linked their NIN with their SIM amount to around 7 percent of total revenues from Nigeria, and around 3 percent of total revenues for the Group.
“However, our experience of adopting similar procedures in other countries suggests that SIM registration is accelerated, and some SIM consolidation is likely to occur in response to implementation, potentially reducing any financial impact.
“As of the end of the year, Airtel Nigeria had an active customer base of 44.4 million and posted revenue of $1.878 million. We continue to work closely with the regulator and impacted customers to help them to comply with the registration requirements, making every effort to minimise disruption and ensure affected customers can continue to benefit from full-service connectivity as soon as possible; in line with our aim to drive increased connectivity and digital inclusion across Nigeria.”
Recall that the Federal Government had ordered telecommunications operators including MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile to bar all outgoing calls of all Subscriber Identification Module cards not yet linked with the National Identification Number effective from April 4, 2022