Airtel Africa PLC said on Thursday that, from April 4, all SIMs that have not been linked to a national identification number will have only their outgoing voice calls barred with immediate effect.

The telecommunications and mobile money services company explained that outgoing voice revenues for active subscribers who have not yet linked their NIN with their SIM amount to around 3% of total revenues and around 8% of total revenues from Nigeria.

On Tuesday, the company said it had adopted regulatory SIM card measures at its Nigeria telecommunications unit.

This followed a directive announced by the Nigerian Communications Commission back in December 2020 which said operators were required to ensure all their subscribers provided a valid national identification number to update SIM registration records.

The Africa-focused telecommunications provider said on Tuesday that, so far, it has collated NIN records for 73% of its Nigeria active customer base.

By nation, Nigeria was Airtel’s largest revenue contributor in the first half ended September 30. The Nigeria arm generated revenue of $896 million, up 25% yearly. Airtel’s total interim revenue was $2.27 billion.

Looking forward, Airtel said it will continue to work closely with the regulator and will make every effort to minimise disruption and ensure affected customers can continue to benefit from full service connectivity as soon as possible.

Shares in Airtel closed up 2.5% at 142.30 pence on Thursday in London.

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