MTN over the weekend said the on-going Subscribers Identification Model (SIM) re-registration/re-validation exercise is schedule for all its over 60 million users on its network in Nigeria.
This implies that all customers on the subscriber log of MTN in Nigeria will be re-registered or invited for data verification and re-validation for profile authenticity.
The re-registration exercise is designed in batches, MTN Nigeria said, stating that another set of subscribers will soon be invited for the exercise.
Over 10,000 Nigerians were said to have been recruited and have been trained for the period of six months in a bid to achieve the CIA indicator cum FBI standard set by the industry regulator for the SIM registration exercise.
Thus far, it was gathered that over 25 percent of its Nigeria subscribers have been captured in the first batch of this exercise with 100 percent success recorded.
Subscribers expected a more seamless arrangement even as the telco pleaded for understanding to serve them better.
The newly-appointed MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Ferdi Moolman and Corporate Services Executive, Aminat Oyagbola, at a joint media briefing in Lagos said, new set of equipment have been invested on to continue the re-registration exercise in compliance with the required international standard set by the NCC.
According to Moolman, MTN was particular about resolving the N1.4 trillion fine issues with the NCC to enable the telecommunications firm move forward in its commitment to serving the Nigeria network coverage better and that the SIM re-registration has to be concluded first.
Falling oil prices and fluctuating foreign exchange have had a negative impact on the ability of the company to import equipment from abroad in the bid to foster infrastructure growth for telecoms services in the country.
He said: “It is really disturbing and it has become more difficult to import equipment from abroad.
These two issues of falling oil prices and fluctuating foreign exchange regime are serious issues, but we have confidence in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s efforts to resolve the matter.”
On SIM registration, Moolman said that a solid database of MTN’s subscribers was key to the next phase of the telecommunications revolution, especially in the area of broadband provisions.
Hence the operator expressed full readiness to restore a frosty relationship with the telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) who it is currently battling in court over N1.4 trillion fine imposed on the company for customers’ registration infractions.
