CA CEO Ezra Chiloba
According to the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA), mobile providers have 60 days to finish SIM registration.
Ezra Chiloba, the director general of CA, said in a statement that operators have been ordered to take extra steps to assure complete compliance in the upcoming 60 days.
Chiloba said in a statement on Monday, October 17, “For the avoidance of doubt, the 60 days is not an extension, but a term for the mobile operators to take specific actions, including denial of service to urge further compliance.”
Sim card customers who are not properly registered will eventually have their accounts deactivated by cell providers after receiving a graded denial of service.
“Voice, SMS, data, and mobile banking services will all be impacted by this action,”
Any mobile operator found to be out of compliance will be subject to regulatory action, which could include a fine of up to 0.5 percent of annual gross turnover, according to Chiloba.
Following the expiration of the deadline for registering SIM cards on October 15, 2022, thousands of Kenyans’ cell phone service was suspended yesterday.
To provide Mobile Operators and consumers more time to comply, the Communication Authority of Kenya had extended the deadline for updating SIM card registration details by an additional six months on April 15, 2022.
“Over the course of the time, we have seen a significant increase in Mobile Operators’ compliance levels. “Over the past eight months, Airtel’s compliance levels increased from 42 percent to 81.2 percent, while Safaricom’s compliance levels increased from 52 percent to 93 percent,” said Chiloba.
