MTN Nigeria has told its customers they will now be required to provide their Virtual NIN or the improved NIN slip for all SIM related services.

The company disclosed this in a vNIN update flier. According to the company SIM registration, replacement, mobile number portability, NIN linking, and 4G upgrade can only be done with vNIN or the improved NIN slip.

It said, “vNIN is a tokenised version of a person’s actual NIN, it is a 16-digit alphanumeric (ABCXYZ1249872DK…) NIN that customers will be required to generate either via NIMC mobile App, via the improved NIN slip with QR code for scanning using the NIMC mobile app or USSD channel for any SIM related services.

“The virtual NIN tokens are merchant-specific and expire after a set period of time (usually 72 hours). This means that a token generated for company MTN cannot be used or verified by company Airtel.”

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According to MTN, it is adopting vNIN because the Federal Government introduced it as a means to protect citizens’ data privacy as another party verifying the number cannot retain or use it in a way that puts the individual’s data privacy at risk.

It added that vNIN is only applicable to citizens with the original 11 digit NIN. It said both the actual NIN and vNIN will continue to exist side by side until the government tells the telecommunication industry to migrate fully to vNIN.