When Dead SIMs Died: How the NCC clean-up made Nigerian telecoms more honest

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) conducted a customer data clean-up and enforced NIN-SIM linkage, removing millions of inactive mobile subscriptions (most notably from Globacom). This forced MTN, Airtel, Glo, and 9mobile to redefine what constitutes an active customer, moving from inflated counts to honest data. The author emphasizes that telecom databases have become national infrastructure vital for banking, security, and government planning.