Telecom
ANALYSIS: SIMs/NINs Directive: Time to Rescue Telecoms Industry
By Vanguard Newspaper
The directive last week by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy that the National Identity Number, NIN, has become mandatory for a subscriber to carry a mobile phone is not only a slap on the faces of Nigerians already going through very troubled times but a plain manifestation that arbitrariness is being elevated to the dizzy heights of national policy.
Operators have been given only two weeks to comply and ensure that over 190m subscribers on their networks are properly registered. Or your operating license withdrawn.
We view this as a death sentence for the telecommunications industry, and some experts cautioned last week that a reversal of industry fortunes has been set afoot by an obnoxious official proclamation.
One operator moaned that the regulator wants to wipe out at least more than half of the subscriber base of the industry.
We agree that times are desperate in Nigeria, very desperate. Whole mass of students are spirited away from school and they reappear after a whole week in the den of criminals. Road travel has become a nightmare for the ordinary and the mighty ones. Bandits have taken over the roads and the farms.
Quite unfortunately even for the rich, air travel is beyond the reach of those who used to fly except the hedonists who steal the people’s money for plain pleasure.
According to figures from the National Population Commission, NPC, very bizarre decisions are being taken to rubbish the collective intelligence of a nation and expose the citizenry to ridicule before the international community.
So, using failure in security as pressure point, the ministry under the grip of Dr. Isa Pantami has given a directive capable of destroying the entire communications industry except common sense prevails.
The December 15, 2020, statement signed by Public Affairs Director, Dr. Ikechuckwu Adinde, which affirmed earlier directive for operators to totally suspend registration of new SIMs, stated among others: “Operators to require all their subscribers to provide valid National Identification Number, NIN, to update SIM registration records; The submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from today, December 16, 2020 and end by December 30, 2020).
After the deadline, all SIMs without NINs are to be blocked from the networks.” While conceding the pervasive security challenges, there has been outrage across the land; understandably, by subscribers who feel that apart from the suffering that has worsened more because of COVID-19, a major inconvenience is being added to their burden.
Recall that the country’s economy has gone into recession again and is not expected to recover until late 2021, a development that is forcing more Nigerians to fall into the poverty pit.
Vanguard immediately reached out to a powerful industry source to ask if the directive could be executed in two weeks. The answer was an emphatic NO. We also reached out to a source in the regulatory institution. Is this what should have been done? The answer again was NO. Let’s try to unwrap the intricacies of the unfolding story.
The SIM Card registration regime started in 2011. The exercise was carried out simultaneously by licensed agents of the NCC and the mobile operators. NCC was to warehouse the data. An understanding at the time was that, because of the sensitive nature of personal data, all data will be handed over to the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, whose responsibility it is to manage the National Identity Database.
Till date the progress recorded in that area opens windows to speculations and recriminations. It is interesting to point out here that NIMC was established in 2007. In all the years of existence, the organisation has succeeded in registering only 43.6m! So what magic wand will it wave to accomplish the act in two weeks?
According to figures gleaned from the NCC website, there were 207,954,737 subscribers on the four mobile networks of MTN, Airtel, GLO and 9Mobile by October 2020. An industry source told Vanguard last week that of this figure, about 120m are unique subscribers, discounting double registration of mobile numbers, while the rest could be used in personal internet modems, sectors like banking, vehicle tracking and other sectors where mobile communications have become very handy. There has to be a way to capture these numbers and this cannot be enforced overnight.
Matching the 120m subscriber figure with their NINs is a nightmare which will rubbish the two-week window. For the journey to start at all, all the companies being licensed by NIMC, one expert explained, will have to source for their equipment and get them certified by NIMC before procurement and purchases can take place. To make any meaningful impact immediately, the industry may need at least 250,000 of those machines which are not manufactured here.
Moreover, the NIMC machines are not what are easily sourced in the open market. They are called the 442 machines because they can take four fingers at a go and take the remaining two fingers once. They are more robust than the SIM Card registration machines which can take only two fingers at a time.
The source told Vanguard that this is a logistics nightmare that can hardly be afforded by some of the companies being recruited by NIMC at the moment.
Industry observers are of the opinion that the President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly should put a leash on the minister before he totally destroys the telecommunications industry.
In attendance at the meeting that had to do purely with the regulation of the industry were the CEOs of NCC, the National Information Development Agency, NITDA, and NIMC.
At least one operator told Vanguard they were never at the meeting; instead the minister is taking all the decisions which he is shoving down their throat, thus increasing the fear that the regulator is increasingly losing direction and hold on the industry.
Strains of helplessness are already showing. “We don’t know why the Executive Vice Chairman, EVC, is unable to call some meetings. We are not able to sit down to negotiate on anything,” the source lamented.
Those who fear the directive may become a dangerous super spreader of the COVID-19 pandemic may have been proven right when, last week, somewhere in Abuja, an eye witness told Vanguard that some youths who had gathered for two days at one registration spot, suddenly started demonstrating on noticing the near futility of the exercise and how some advantaged personalities were bending all the rules to favour a few.
The desperation to register will obviously rubbish the PTF recommendation on social distancing in a season of pandemic. Meanwhile, more trouble looms for the industry.
A knowledgeable industry source told Vanguard that, if not properly managed, the directive could destroy half the base of the industry, stymie revenue and investment, and lead to massive job losses.
But all these could pale into insignificance if the minister ever executes his growing threats that “violations of this directive will be met by stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating license.”
This is hardly the way to speak to organisations that have invested heavily in your economy.
More than $2 trillion flowed through mobile money wallets globally in 2025, found the State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026, prepared by the GSMA Mobile Money programme.
This is an important threshold and exemplifies the exponential growth in transaction values the industry has experienced in recent years. It took 20 years to pass $1 trillion in annual transaction values, but just four years for this figure to double.
From its inception, only 25 years ago, mobile money has now become a mainstream financial service for underserved populations around the world, empowering those without access to traditional banking services and contributing to economic growth in countries where mobile money is present. The report also found that mobile money reached 2.3 billion registered accounts in 2025, growing by 268 million.
Vivek Badrinath, GSMA Director General, comments: “Mobile money has become one of the world’s most impactful financial services. What began as a simple way to move money has evolved into a global financial ecosystem, reshaping how hundreds of millions of people manage their financial lives. The market is reaching new heights and greater maturity. Adoption and regular use are surging, and value is scaling even faster than volume, with more than $2 trillion flowing through mobile money in 2025 – doubling from the first trillion in just four years.
“Looking ahead, the industry’s growing scale and sophistication will bring new opportunities, and new responsibilities. By prioritising interoperability and cross‑border harmonisation; engaging in digital public infrastructure; strengthening consumer protection and fraud controls; and accelerating women’s inclusion and financial health outcomes, we can ensure mobile money continues to provide safe, inclusive and sustainable digital financial services.”
Regular mobile money usage is growing, supporting financial health
Regular mobile money usage has increased worldwide over the past year, with active 30-day accounts rising by 15% to 593 million. Most new registered and active accounts came from Sub-Saharan Africa, although almost every region where mobile money is offered experienced a rise.
This has led to monthly usage of mobile money accounts growing by half a percentage point to 25.7%, the highest it has been since 2021. However, this still leaves almost 75% of accounts inactive monthly, with fraud remaining widespread and transaction taxes often encouraging users to revert to cash in the countries where they’re in effect, negatively impacting financial inclusion.
Through more frequent usage, mobile money users can improve their financial health – the capacity to manage day-to-day financial needs, withstand shocks and invest in the future – by benefiting from the increasing provision of adjacent services like credit, savings and insurance.
The report found that the number of mobile money providers offering insurance increased by one-third in 2025. Mobile-money enabled credit remains the most widely offered adjacent financial service, and this is nearly matched by those offering saving options.
Regulation is supporting mobile money in improving financial inclusion
Regulation is playing a key role in expanding the reach of mobile money, the GSMA reports. Over 60% of mobile money providers believe that interoperability, know-your-customer and consumer protection regulations have supported their operations.
Although more must be done to support the industry, significant regulatory issues remain – particularly cross-border data transfer regulations, which 24% of mobile money providers report have hindered their operations.
With a supportive regulatory environment, the mobile money industry will be able to continue growing and, in turn, advance financial inclusion, especially among groups that have traditionally lacked access to banking services.
This is vital as a wide gender gap persists in mobile money account ownership across seven out of 10 countries surveyed in the report. Aside from in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, women who own a mobile money account are still less likely than men to have used it within the past month.
Mobile money fosters innovation for good
In addition to accelerating financial inclusion and supporting improved financial health, mobile money usage is enabling wider social and humanitarian benefits by enabling rapid payouts during crises, particularly in remote regions. However, for these and other use cases to succeed, mobile money needs to be complemented by digital financial literacy initiatives to continue responsible growth across regions and demographics.
A Los Angeles jury has found Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms liable for $3 million in damages in a groundbreaking social media addiction lawsuit, a verdict expected to reverberate across thousands of similar cases against major tech firms and intensify scrutiny over addictive app designs targeting young users.
The case centres on a 20-year-old woman who alleged that Google’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram hooked her at a young age through deliberate attention-grabbing features, with the jury ruling that both companies were negligent in their platform designs and failed to warn about inherent risks.
Judge Carolyn Kuhl noted that punitive damages remain pending, with jurors set to weigh whether the apps caused physical harm or if the firms disregarded broader user health impacts.
The plaintiffs’ lead counsel hailed the decision as a “referendum from a jury to an entire industry” signalling that accountability has arrived for tech giants long criticised for prioritising engagement metrics over youth wellbeing.
While Meta shares rose 1 per cent and Alphabet’s climbed 0.2 per cent post-verdict, both companies pushed back—Meta calling the outcome disagreeable and evaluating appeals, while Google spokesperson José Castañeda confirmed plans to challenge the ruling.
Notably, the trial sidestepped content moderation disputes by zeroing in on platform mechanics, a strategy that complicated defences; co-defendants Snap and TikTok settled pre-trial on undisclosed terms.
The ruling amplifies a decade of escalating backlash against U.S. tech behemoths over child and teen safety, shifting the battleground to courts and statehouses after federal lawmakers stalled on comprehensive regulation.
At least 20 states passed child-focused social media laws last year, including cellphone bans in schools and mandatory age verification for accounts, measures now under legal fire from NetChoice—a tech-backed group including Meta and Google—challenging verification mandates as unconstitutional.
Looking ahead, a multi-state and school district addiction suit heads to federal trial in Oakland, California this summer, while another Los Angeles state case involving Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat kicks off in July, per plaintiffs’ attorney Matthew Bergman.
This verdict underscores mounting parental and regulatory alarm over algorithms that keep minors scrolling for hours, fueling mental health crises from anxiety to sleep disruption, even as platforms tout safety tools like parental controls and time limits.
For Nigeria and Africa—where youth form the bulk of 300 million-plus social media users—the outcome spotlights urgent needs for homegrown safeguards amid rising app penetration and similar addiction concerns in emerging markets.
Tech accountability campaigners see the case as a potential tipping point, pressuring firms to redesign feeds, enforce age gates, and fund independent research, lest a cascade of global litigation erodes their trillion-dollar valuations.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), global professional services network, has reported that Nigerians lost about N12.5 billion from 2019 to 2023, through escalating digital fraud schemes.
AI-driven scams leverage artificial intelligence to create highly personalized and convincing fraudulent schemes, such as deepfake audio/video impersonations, automated phishing, and fake investment bots.
Globally, telecom fraud losses reached more than $38.95 billion during the same period, PwC said in its report titled “AI’s Dual Role in Telecom Fraud.”
The firm highlighted the dual nature of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the telecom sector, warning that the technology is changing how fraud operates.
“AI has tremendous potential to drive positive change across sectors, but it also enables fraudsters to create and disseminate scams quickly and at scale,” PwC said in the report.
The report shows that telecom operators are no longer just communication providers but also critical infrastructure supporting digital banking and payments.
This shift has increased exposure to fraud. PwC noted that in Nigeria, 59 percent of e-banking customers have experienced scams, suggesting that telecom networks, which support mobile banking alerts, authentication messages, and digital payment links, are becoming attractive targets for criminals.
As telecom networks connect more closely with banks and fintech companies, fraud incidents in one sector can quickly spread to another, leading to regulatory scrutiny and loss of customer trust.
This growing overlap is creating a new risk layer in Africa’s digital economy, where mobile devices are often the main gateway to financial services.
PwC identified several common telecom fraud methods affecting operators and users, including SIM box fraud, SMS phishing, SIM swap fraud, subscription fraud, scam calls, and international revenue share fraud.
The report noted that AI could make these attacks even more sophisticated.
Criminal groups can now use AI tools to automate scam campaigns, generate convincing messages, and even create deepfake voices or identity impersonations to trick victims.
The firm warned that these capabilities could allow fraud schemes to spread across networks quickly, increasing financial losses if telecom companies fail to strengthen defenses.
Globally, the telecom, media, and technology sector already experiences the highest level of fraud, according to PwC’s 2022 Global Crime Survey. N
early two-thirds of companies in the sector reported fraud incidents, with about half involving cybercrime.
Despite the risks, PwC said telecom operators have a strong advantage in combating fraud because of the large amount of network and customer data they control.
By using AI and machine learning tools, companies can analyse network behaviour in real time and detect suspicious patterns early.
AI systems, for example, can identify unusual call patterns, abnormal message traffic, or activities occurring at odd hours that may signal fraudulent activity.
Some telecom operators have already introduced AI-powered spam detection tools that analyse hundreds of behavioural indicators before determining whether a message or call is likely to be fraudulent. According to PwC, real-time analysis could allow telecom companies to block scams before they cause significant financial losses.
However, PwC stressed that technology alone is not enough to tackle the problem.
The firm called for stronger collaboration between telecom operators, banks, and regulators to address fraud risks across the digital ecosystem.
“AI has tremendous potential to drive positive change across sectors, but it also enables fraudsters to create and disseminate scams quickly and at scale,” the report reiterated.
With millions of Nigerians relying on mobile networks for banking, payments, and identity verification, telecom companies are becoming frontline defenders against digital fraud.
PwC said a deeper understanding of how technology is changing fraud risks will be crucial for telecom operators seeking to protect customers and maintain trust in the country’s digital infrastructure.
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