Telcos Directed To Deactivate Unregistered SIM Cards

Telcos Directed To Deactivate Unregistered SIM Cards

By Jane Muia / Published October 18, 2022 | 11:40 am

Mobile service providers have been directed to deactivate all unregistered SIM cards in the next 60 days in a move that is geared towards ensuring 100 percent compliance with the registration exercise.

“Taking into account the improved level of performance so far, operators are directed to take additional steps to ensure 100 percent compliance in the next 60 days. The 60 days is not an extension, but a period for the mobile operators to take certain actions including denial of service to prompt further compliance,” Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) Director General Ezra Chiloba said in a press statement.

At the lapse of the 60 days window, CA is expected to conduct a compliance audit to ascertain the level of compliance.

The deadline for fresh SIM card registration closed last Saturday with around 20 million SIM cards remaining unregistered. Data from the communication Authority of Kenya shows that 40 million people have so far complied with the SIM card registration exercise.

“After suspending the registration exercise for six months, the exercise was concluded over the weekend and over 40 million subscribers have now adhered to the law,” said Chiloba.

Leading operators -Safaricom and Airtel recorded the highest compliance rates of 93 and 81.2 percent respectively. This was a significant increase from the 55 and 40 percent recorded in January. The numbers from Telkom are still under review but the telco had as of Friday registered 40 percent of its customers.

The regulator had earlier warned consumers against blaming the authority for disconnecting their SIM cards after the lapse of the deadline. Those that had not registered their SIM card by Saturday were denied services including voice calls, text, and mobile money platforms.

Data from CA shows that telecommunication operators deactivated a total of 411,903 SIM in the six months to June. A total of 124,689 SIM cards were deactivated between January and March, and 287,214 between April and June.

The deactivation saw the active mobile subscriptions sink to 64.7 million in the June quarter, from 64.9 million in the preceding period, translating to a mobile penetration of 130.9 percent. In addition, 59.7 million mobile devices were connected to mobile networks As of June 2022.

Chiloba said the fresh registration exercise is aimed at getting rid of the illegally registered Sim cards which abet cyber crimes in the country.

Related Content: How To Confirm Sim Card Registration As Deadline Approaches

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