The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called on the general public to discountenance and disregard a report by a national daily which purported that the Commission has within this first quarter of 2021 issued a whopping 383 million new telephone lines to the network operators.
According to a statement signed by the sector regulator’s Director ( Public Affairs), Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, the misinformation arose from the national daily’s misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the Commission’s National Numbering Plan update report posted on its official website.
According to the Commission, the figure stated in the daily’ s report is actually the number of total phone lines allocated to the service providers since inception.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the update report posted on the Commission’s website on Friday 19th, February, 2021, under the heading: National Numbering Plan (2021 Q1), was the Total Number of Telephone Numbers allocated to all the telecommunications services providers since the inception of digital mobile services in the country in 2001.
The Commission stressed that the update report was neither an indication of new allocation or new activation of lines within the period.
“Rather, the report on the Commission’s website titled: ‘National Numbering Plan (2021 Q1)’ is a routine periodic report issued as part of the Commission’s regulatory mandate to publish and update all telephone numbers allocated to service providers for the benefit of stakeholders.
“The purpose of the National Numbering Plan in the telecommunications sector is to set up a uniform numbering scheme and the associated dialing procedures to be used in the networks to allow the subscribers and operators to set up calls.
“The general public and all our stakeholders are advised to disregard the said report in the national daily and be guided accordingly.
The NCC also used the opportunity to encourage reporters to always fact-check their stories with the Commission for accurate reporting.
“We also use this opportunity to remind our esteemed media stakeholders that the Commission runs an Open-House system. We encourage them to always feel free to contact the Commission for necessary clarification on NCC’s regulatory activities and reports published on its website before going to press.