Telecom Namibia (TN) says that it faces a potential monthly loss of N$7.5 million due to the deactivation of 191,598 unregistered prepaid sim cards, effective April 1, 2024.
As of March 31, 2024, TN’s records indicated a total of 442,410 active mobile subscribers. Following the deactivation, TN will maintain a base of 250,812 registered prepaid subscribers.
The announcement by Telecom comes after Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) also revealed an expected loss of N$ 8.1 million in revenue per month from 323,236 unregistered customers. This brings the total projected losses by both Telecom and MTC to come in at N$15.6 million from 514,834 unregistered sim cards
According to MTC,out of a total of 1,937,129 customers, only 1,613,893 have completed the registration process, representing an 83.3% registration rate.
This comes as the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) on Wednesday said that as of March 31,Namibia had a total of 2,387,330 active SIM cards, out of which 1,868,412 were successfully registered, indicating a registration rate of 78.26%.
Mandatory SIM Card Registration is a policy adopted by several governments around the world as part of efforts to mitigate security concerns, address crime and enable the application of digital services.