The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) says it has not deliberated on any plans to extend the deadline of SIM card registration beyond the cut-off date of 31 December 2023.
“It is too premature now to talk about extensions, and I know operators invested huge resources in this programme. This is something which was known from last year [2022] by both the public and operators. We are just in the first half of the registration process and still have eight more months, therefore there is no need for an extension, especially at this point in time” said MICT’s Executive Director Audrin Mathe.
This comes after there were calls from some operators who raised concerns that the registration process was not moving fast enough, thus they were not too sure if all of their clients will be registered.
Meanwhile, the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN), together with mobile operators, said the power to extend lies with MICT as the governing body.
“Kindly note that in terms of Regulation 10 of the SIM Registration Regulations, it is only the Minister of Information and Communication Technology who may extend the period beyond the 12 months, which currently is from 01 January to 31 December 2023,” said CRAN Chief Executive Officer Emilia Nghikembua.
Despite the news of extension concerns, Nghikembua said the authority has not received any formal indication of a mobile operator requiring an extension.
On its part, Mobile Telecommunication Limited (MTC) said an extension request is something under consideration. MTC has over 2.5 million prepaid and postpaid subscribers, and to date has managed to register 1 million SIM cards.
“It’s under consideration, but such a determination will obviously have to be made in consultation with the regulator as informed by what the situation on the ground will be when the deadlines loom nearer. But at this stage we are not yet at that stage in order to concretely provide you an answer,” said MTC’s Public Relations Officer Erasmus Nekundi.
“We have ramped up our activities and have deployed additional personnel to serve this need. We remain optimistic,” he added.
Telecom on the other hand, did not provide figures indicating how many SIM cards have been registered so far, despite continuous efforts for the past two weeks.
CRAN could not conclusively express itself fully on the registration process: “in terms of the number of SIM cards registered, such can only be confirmed after the Authority receives data from the operators which is expected after the first quarter of the year. Although, so far, CRAN is satisfied with the operators’ rollout of the SIM card registration process.”
