- Here’s how to retain your Nigerian MTN, Glo and Airtel mobile number for years even while abroad
In 2020, there was a controversy over a SIM card used by the daughter of Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari, which was in possession of someone else.
The case led to arrests by the DSS and a court case that ended in the court ordering the president’s daughter to pay N10 million for damages. Well, unlike the daughter of the president, many people are unaware that recycling SIM cards is a legal practice in Nigeria.
What this means is that if you stop using your SIM card for some time, it will be sold to a new user by the telecommunications provider – and yes, it is legal in Nigeria. Recently, the director of public affairs, of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, confirmed that a SIM card left for up to a year will be recycled to a new user.
With this knowledge and confirmation that every SIM card in the market today was used by someone about a year ago, fraudsters have continued to target bank accounts linked to these phone numbers that are still active.
There have been reported cases of people who were victims of fraud carried out on their bank accounts after their phone numbers were assigned to new users and their financial information, like debit alerts, was exposed to the new users.
To avoid losing your phone number when you travel out of the country, the NCC has mandated telecommunication companies to make a provision for people to be able to retain their numbers when they are out of the country for studies or long periods. This led to the introduction of the Keep My Number (KMN) service, which is now in full effect. One of the best things about the service is that it can help you retain your line for as long as 3 years for some networks.
Below, I will walk you through the simple steps of retaining your phone number when you are traveling out of Nigeria, and your phone number is not in use. Check it out!
MTN – Keep My Number (KMN) Service
To retain your MTN phone number when you travel, follow the following steps:
- Recharge your line depending on the duration you want to subscribe for (the service costs ₦511, ₦819, and ₦1228 for 1-3 years, respectively)
- For 1-year subscription, dial *365*1# or SMS “KMN1” to 36500
- For 2-year subscription, dial *365*2# or SMS “KMN2” to 36500
- For 3-year subscription, dial *365*3# or SMS “KMN3” to 36500
You will receive a debit for your subscription and a confirmation text from MTN detailing the expiration of your reservation.
Globacom – Keep My Number (KMN) Service
To retain your Globacom phone number when you travel, pay attention to the following tips.
Globacom calls this service the Glo ALWAYS ON plan, and it guarantees the retention of your phone number if you plan on leaving it dormant for more than 90 days – which is their standard deactivation tenure.
To activate the service, dial *777# from your Globacom line and follow the options to activate the Glo ALWAYS ON plan.
You should ensure that your account is adequately funded, as the service costs a one-time charge of N500 for 365 days. You will need to carry out the action after the expiration if you plan on retaining the number for longer.
9Mobile – Keep My Number (KMN) Service
To give subscribers the opportunity of preserving their phone numbers and avoid losing them to a new user when the SIM card is left dormant for up to 90 days, 9Mobile introduced the Extended SIM Validity service.
For 9Mobile, the service is available to all prepaid and postpaid subscribers – both new and existing.
The service costs ₦500 to retain your SIM card number for 365 days. To activate the service, follow the steps below:
- Recharge your line accordingly
- Dial *539*1# from the 9Mobile line
- Or, you can text “1” to 539 to subscribe
- To confirm your status, dial *539#
Airtel – Keep My Number (KMN) Service
Unfortunately, this service is not available to Airtel subscribers at this time.
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