Category: Business

MTN Loses 7.3 Million Subscriptions Over NIN-SIM Linkage

MTN Speaks On Alleged Killing Of Its Employees In Imo

South African multinational corporation and mobile telecommunications provider, MTN, reportedly experienced a significant decline of 7.3 million active subscriptions in January 2024.

Recent industry data indicated that this drop occurred as a result of complying with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)’s directive to deactivate SIM cards that were not linked with National Identification Numbers (NINs).

Naija News recalls that in December 2023, the NCC instructed all telecommunication operators, including MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile, to implement a full network barring on phone lines without submitted NINs by February 28, 2024.

Subscribers who provided their NINs but were not validated were threatened with complete deactivation.

For unverified NINs with five or more connected lines, the NCC threatened deactivation would take place by March 29, 2024. Similarly, lines with fewer than five connections to an unverified NIN would be deactivated by April 15, 2024.

MTN’s active subscriptions dropped from 87 million in December 2023 to 79.7 million in January, resulting in a loss of approximately 7.3 million subscriptions, as per the most recent NCC data.

In line with the NCC’s directive regarding NIN-SIM linking, MTN announced that it has deactivated 4.2 million connections.

The company stated that it has verified a total of 19 million lines since the NCC implemented a regulation in December 2023 mandating the disconnection of subscriber lines not linked to their NIN.

By February 28, 2024, Naija News understands that 4.3 million lines had been verified, while 4.2 million had been disconnected.

9mobile also experienced a decrease in subscriptions in January this year, with a decline of 135,788 to 13.7 million subscribers.

Despite the ongoing disconnection process, Airtel and Globacom observed slight growth in their monthly subscriber bases. Airtel welcomed 767,887 new customers, increasing from 61.8 million in December of the previous year to 62.6 million in January.

The number of subscribers in Globacom’s database increased by 321,869, reaching a total of 61.9 million in December. This indicates a growth in subscriptions.

However, Nigeria’s overall number of active mobile service subscriptions decreased by over six million in January 2024, totalling 218 million compared to 224.4 million in December 2023.

As a result of this decline in active connections, the country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants in a given area, also decreased.

In January 2024, the teledensity stood at 100.75, down from 103.66 per cent recorded in December of the previous year.

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Naira To Dollar At N400 Rate Unrealistic – Moghalu

'There Is Real Problem' - Moghalu Reacts To New World Bank Loan, Vehicles For Lawmakers

A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Moghalu, has criticized the notion that the naira will stabilize at N400 to the dollar.

The political economist deems the notion as unrealistic.

Naija News reports that Moghalu expressed his viewpoint through a series of posts on his X account on Sunday.

He wrote: “Those who want the Naira to be N400 to the $ are living in a dream world. Even discounting for the negative impact of speculative attacks on the value of the Naira, the exchange rate will (and should) reflect its market value in reality, not the artificiality that the Emefiele era central bank sought to maintain to please economic illiterates in political power at the time.

“That artificiality created room for massive arbitrage by speculators which bled the economy. Nigeria does not (yet) have a productive export economy. That’s the heart of the matter.

“And we do not have $100 billion in foreign reserves. So on what basis would the Naira forex rate return to some fantasy land soon? It will also take time to regain or achieve full investor confidence such as we had when we were there (and the rate was N150-165 to the $).

“The sooner we focus on a painstaking creation of value-added manufacturing export economy that earns forex beyond oil in real and significant terms, the better.

“Key to this is the electricity conundrum in which we are at less than 4,000MW of generation for a population of 200 million for decades now. Take power to even 20K megawatts (let’s not talk of 50K for South Africa’s 60 million population or Brazil’s 181K megawatts for a population only slightly larger than Nigeria) and you will see what the Nigerian entrepreneurial spirit is capable of.”

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Naira Appreciates To N1,382/Dollar

Naira Fights Back, Bureau De Change Operators Confirm New Dollar To Naira Black Market Rate

The Nigerian naira continued its upward trajectory against the United States dollar, closing at 1,382/$ in the official market on Thursday, marking a significant N18 gain.

This development follows a stern warning from the Presidency to currency speculators against undermining the national currency, cautioning that such activities would lead to financial losses.

The naira’s strengthening is attributed to increased dollar supply in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), as evidenced by trading data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited, showing a 1.3 percent appreciation of the naira.

The currency had already made substantial gains in both official and parallel markets the previous day, closing at N1,400/$ in the black market.

The official market saw the intraday high reaching N1,598 per dollar, an improvement from Wednesday’s close of N1,620, while the intraday low firmed up to N1,300/$, from N1,350/$ the day before.

Market dynamics shifted with a notable increase in dollar supply, rising to $288.47 million, a 7.46 percent increase from the previous session’s $268.29 million.

The recent positive trend in the forex market comes after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the clearance of all valid foreign exchange backlogs, a move aimed at bolstering market confidence.

The CBN’s Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, reaffirmed the commitment to settling inherited forex claims totaling $7 billion, with $1.5 billion already disbursed to fulfill bank customer obligations.

The financial measures have seemingly started to reflect positively on Nigeria’s economic indicators, with the country’s foreign currency reserves climbing 3.62 percent to $34.37 billion as of March 12, 2024.

Moreover, a dramatic increase in Diaspora remittances, which soared to $1.3 billion in February from $300 million in January, indicates a growing confidence in Nigeria’s economic management.

These developments hint at a recovering economy and a stabilizing naira, offering a glimpse of optimism for Nigeria’s financial stability and exchange rate predictability.

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