Crowds have flocked to MTN Nigeria offices in various parts of the country due to barred phone lines.
On Sunday, numerous Nigerians took to social media to express frustration over their MTN lines being barred from making or receiving calls.
TheCable has learned that telecom companies began mass disconnections of phone lines not linked to national identification numbers (NINs) late Saturday.
Many 9mobile subscribers have also been unable to make or receive calls since Saturday night.
This restriction comes ahead of a planned nationwide protest scheduled for August 1.
Large, angry crowds have gathered outside MTN offices in the federal capital territory (FCT), Oyo, Kano, and Lagos.
The disconnection is linked to the July 31 deadline set by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for telecom companies to block all subscribers whose NINs are not linked to their phone lines.
This deadline had previously been extended from April 15, 2024, to July 31.
However, many subscribers report that their lines have been blocked despite successfully linking their SIMs with their NINs.
On February 29, the NCC announced that 45 million subscribers would be barred for not completing the linkage.
