Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), announced that over 180 million telephone lines are now linked to National Identity Numbers (NIN).

Danbatta stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, during the NCC’s Public Inquiry on three Regulatory Instruments on the Rule Making Process.

Addressing key stakeholders, the EVC added that the SIM-NIN link-up was made feasible by the National Identity Management Commission’s (NIMC) capture of over 64 million Nigerians in the National Identity Numbers (NIN) database.

The EVC said that statistics indicate that the telecommunications industry has bounced back with broadband penetration peaking at 41 percent while active telephone subscribers have increased by over one million.

Prof. Danbatta had recently said with the deployment of over 1,500 NIN enrolment outlets by Mobile Number Operators (MNOs), the number of enrolments will increase significantly.

He also said that available statistics indicate that the telecommunications industry has bounced back with broadband penetration peaking at 41 percent while active telephone subscribers have increased by over one million.