Nearly 66,000 Starlink Subscribers in Nigeria Face Service Suspension Without Urgent Biometric Verification

Starlink’s 66,000-plus customers across Nigeria are confronting a critical deadline: complete their biometric registration by December 31, 2025, or risk losing internet access entirely. The company confirmed the requirement through a customer notification sent on December 29, cautioning that non-compliance will trigger automatic service suspension. What makes this particularly challenging for affected users is that reactivation won’t be guaranteed—it depends on whether network capacity exists in their service area.

The Registration Requirements and Process

The verification mandate originated from Nigeria’s Communications Commission (NCC), which issued the directive on August 19, 2025. Initially, subscribers had until November 19 to comply, but an extension pushed the final deadline to December 31. According to Starlink communications, the biometric process itself is quick, requiring less than two minutes to complete.

The submission involves three key steps: uploading a facial photograph, providing your National Identification Number (NIN), and authorizing the information to be connected to your Starlink profile. A company insider, speaking anonymously, confirmed the process is straightforward for most users.

Network Capacity Creates Reactivation Challenges

Here lies the complication: several major Nigerian cities are already operating at or near full capacity. In Lagos, premium neighborhoods including Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, and Ikeja frequently display “sold out” status on Starlink’s service availability tool. Prospective users in these areas are directed to a waitlist system requiring upfront deposits. Abuja faces a similar bottleneck, with numerous districts no longer accepting direct residential activations and only adding customers through paid waitlists.

For subscribers whose areas are at capacity, completing the biometric update won’t automatically restore their service if they miss the deadline. The reactivation queue depends entirely on whether bandwidth becomes available in their location.

How This Fits Nigeria’s Broader Regulatory Strategy

This satellite internet mandate mirrors the NCC’s approach to mobile networks. In December 2023, regulators launched the NIN–SIM linkage program, requiring all mobile subscribers to link their National Identification Numbers to existing SIM cards, including facial recognition and fingerprint data through collaboration with Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

The mobile sector complied over an 18-month rollout period, with September 2024 set as the final enforcement date. By the completion of that exercise, the NCC reported a 96% compliance rate across Nigeria’s networks, with 153 million SIMs successfully verified and linked. Once that deadline passed, unverified lines were completely deactivated.

By August 2025, the NCC announced that all improperly registered mobile SIMs had been purged from Nigeria’s networks entirely. Extending this same verification framework to satellite providers like Starlink demonstrates the regulator’s intent to establish identity accountability across the entire telecoms ecosystem, regardless of connection type.

What Users Are Experiencing

Some Starlink subscribers have already completed the update. Tochukwu Nwankwu, a Lagos-based user, submitted his biometric data in October after seeing an in-app notification. He described the notification experience as minimal—similar to receiving a low signal alert or software update prompt within the application.

With just days remaining until the final deadline, subscribers who haven’t initiated the process are running out of time. The December 31 cutoff is now firm, with no further extensions announced by either Starlink or the NCC.