The telecom company MTN Nigeria has said that the network disruption that its subscribers faced for most of Wednesday was due to “multiple fibre cuts”.
MTN has 87,038,768 subscribers as of December 2023, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which is 38.79% of the total market share, the highest in the country by any licensed Mobile Network Operator (MNO).
The 87 million subscribers of the MNO had trouble making and receiving calls for hours on Wednesday, sparking rumours that the NCC had enforced its threat that all telcos disconnect subscribers not linked to the National Identification Numbers (NIN), with February 28, 2024 as deadline.
Many subscribers were stuck with some people visiting MTN offices closest to them to get answers.
But MTN, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), blamed the situation on “multiple fibre cuts”.
“You have been facing difficulties connecting to the network due to a major service outage caused by multiple fibre cuts affecting voice and data services,” the post read.
“Our engineers are working hard to fix it with services gradually being restored in some areas.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and ask for your patience and understanding as the team works to restore full service as soon as possible.”
The NCC, on Wednesday, gave a directive to telecom service providers to cut off subscribers who have not linked their phone numbers to their NIN by February 28, 2024.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Aminu Maida, who gave the directive through the Director of Public Affairs, Ruben Mouka, at the 45th Kaduna International Trade Fair on Wednesday, said that as a matter of critical national security, telecom consumers must link their NIN to their SIM cards.
