The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) has extended the SIM card registration deadline by three months to 31 March 2024.
The move comes after the latest figures show that, as of 27 December 2023, only 62.5% of active SIM card users had registered their SIM cards.
This translates to 1,491,349 out of 2,383,920 active subscribers since June 2022.
“Given the extension and extra measures implemented by the operators to register all active cards, I trust that all subscribers will comply with the law. The registration of SIM cards is not an open-ended process. Cards not registered by the deadline will be suspended, resulting in unintended consequences,” MICT minister Peya Mushelenga said on Friday.
Mandatory SIM card registration started in January 2023 in line with the provisions of Section 77 of the Communications Act (No. 8 of 2009) and ancillary regulations, as part of a national initiative aimed at facilitating the investigation of crimes committed with the aid of mobile devices.
