Nigeria’s largest mobile telephone company has run dry of pre-paid scratch cards, leaving hundreds of thousands of angry subscribers unable to replenish their accounts.
South African-owned MTN Nigeria Limited has for the past five days been unable to supply recharge cards to its distributors and subscribers due to what officials described as ”logistical problems”.
”It is a big shame that a company that came into operation barely three years ago has run into a major hitch such as this,” said Nike Dagunduro, a student at the University of Lagos.
The shortage of cards has also begun to hit businesses.
”They want to run me out of business. After my shop was demolished two years ago, I started operating a phone kiosk. Now I have no cards to do business. It is frustrating,” said Emeka Odinachi.
MTN, which started operating in Nigeria in August 2001, has about two-million subscribers across the country, making it the biggest GSM provider in Nigeria.
A spokesperson for the company, Callistus Okoruwa, said that efforts were being made to distribute a ”huge volume” of recharge cards.
”We had a logistics problem last week up until Monday morning. But as of today (Tuesday), huge volumes of the cards are being distributed nationwide to solve the problem of scarcity,” he said.
Last Wednesday the Nigerian government invited firms interested in locally producing recharge cards for its fast-growing telecommunications industry to put in their bids for a licence quickly, ahead of a ban on imports.
The state-run regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission NCC), said that the ban on importing cards will take effect on January 1 next year.
It said prospective companies with experience and expertise in security printing, ability to meet tight production schedules and provide spares, maintenance and training, among other conditions, should apply by July 15. – Sapa-AFP