Mobile operators in Namibia have warned about significant financial losses due to the 31 December deadline for mandatory SIM card registration, which the government insists will not be extended.
Telecom Namibia and Mobile Telecommunication (MTC) Limited have registered below 50% of the subscribers, two weeks towards the cut-off date.
Telecom Namibia CEO Stanley Shanapinda warned that if the registration is not extended, it will greatly impact the telecommunications company’s revenues.
“Telecom makes between N$250 million and N$280 million from mobile operations per annum, therefore cutting even a single number come 1 January, will have a negative effect on our revenue,” said Shanapinda during a joint media briefing with MTC and the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology on Friday.
“At the moment we have registered 201,126 subscribers out of a total of 417,646. Therefore, we are faced with an imminent challenge that not all will be registered in the next two weeks, hence hoping for an extension.”
MTC Head of Legal and Corporate Affairs Patience Kangueehi-Kanalelo shared similar sentiments on the impact of imminent revenue losses as the mobile operator, with the highest subscribers of about 2.5 million, has to date only registered 925,284 subscribers.
“That is why we are pushing so much that we have as many people register before the deadline, thus we are pinning our hopes that come 31st December there might be some consideration on extending,” she said.
For the financial year ended 30 September 2023, MTC generated revenue of N$1.9 billion from prepaid customers.
The telecoms companies’ concerns come as banks have echoed that they will lose revenue when SIM cards are disconnected as many use cell phones for various transactions.
Financial institutions have also raised issues that fraud cases may increase because clients can track their transactions without notifications.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) Executive Director Audrin Mathe said the government will not entertain requests for an extension, arguing that the public had two years to complete the process.
“This is purely a Namibian attitude, how can a population of 2.5 million not be able to register yet countries with hundreds of millions of people do manage? Even if you extend for three weeks, others will still go on fishing saying they still have time, which is wrong,” Mathe said.
“So the deadline remains as such, and we have now directed mobile operators to increase capacity in registrations and be reporting on a weekly basis, so that we track and know where we are. Therefore, after Christmas after receiving the reports, we shall sit again and chart the way forward.”
Regarding the banking sector concerns, he said, “banks should not cry foul, they were aware for nearly two years of this process but never came forward, why only worry now? They have a duty to also join the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN), MTC, MICT and Telecom so that the registration becomes a success. Therefore, now is not the time to blame who did what and that, rather work together and ensure that we achieve the goal.”
As the days draw closer, Shanapinda said Telecom has decided to engage students to assist in the registration process thereby reaching a wider mass.
In addition, he said the company has eased requirements where they now only require an ID to register, as well as downloading the online form, filling it at their own pace and submitting it.
“We realised the bureaucratic process of registering was discouraging many people, hence we have relaxed the requirements,” he reiterated.
On the other hand, Kangueehi-Kanalelo said MTC recently hired 160 people to assist in registration especially in areas with low records, in addition to extending operating hours.
“Another initiative that we think might help is online registration which will be available as of next week. The current link is being circulated for testing purposes of the application operating system internally. This was to make sure the system can handle the traffic and is secure enough to keep the data safe,” she said.
CRAN launched the national SIM registration consumer awareness campaign in June 2022.
The campaign was in anticipation of the mandatory SIM card registration which started in January 2023 in line with the provisions of Section 77 of the Communications Act (No. 8 of 2009) and ancillary regulations.
SIM card registration is a national initiative aimed at facilitating the investigation of crimes committed with the aid of mobile devices.
