MTN Nigeria has apologised to subscribers after receiving complaints over its SIM card validation process.

The mobile network acknowledged the exercise had resulted in significant congestion at its offices across the country as large numbers of subscribers lined up from early hours in the morning till late in the evening.

In a statement Akinwale Goodluck, corporate services executive for MTN Nigeria, said the network is striving to "ameliorate the conditions at its service centers".

He said: "We wish to apologise to all our customers who are experiencing difficulty with the ongoing SIM registration/revalidation exercise. Affected customers can revalidate their registration details at all MTN sales outlets, including the nearest agent and dealer shops."

While urging the subscribers to be calm, Goodluck said the company is committed to ensuring that all affected subscribers complete the process as directed by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).

"It is for this reason that we have increased the number of staff handling SIM registration/validation across all our channels. We have also mandated all our registration outlets to remain open till 8pm every day until further notice," he said.

While responding to insinuations that the network intentionally decided to deactivate affected lines, Goodluck said the decision to cut off lines with invalid or incomplete subscriber registration details was in compliance with the NCC directive.

"It is to enable us provide maximum support to government in achieving the national interest objectives of the exercise," he said.

Goodluck added that subscribers no longer need to go to the major MTN offices in the various cities and the registration exercise could now be carried out by MTN channel partners and agents.

"In full compliance with NCC regulations, every element of the registration would be completed at once. Kindly report any fraudulent activity to the MTN manager in charge at the centres," he said.