Ezra Chiloba quells fears over SIM card registration

Millions of Kenyans can heave a sigh of relief as their lines will not be disconnected if they fail to register them afresh as had been widely feared.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) yesterday clarified that subscribers who have already registered their SIM cards – which can be confirmed by dialing the code *106# – can rest easy.

CA Director-General Ezra Chiloba said at a press conference in Nairobi that the directive is part of regulations that were gazetted on August 14, 2015.

“This is not re-registration or fresh registration. It is an opportunity for operators and their customers to validate respective details of registration. The exercise will address the documentation gaps that have become common place,” he said.

The authority also banned hawking of SIM cards, saying new subscribers should buy lines at authorised dealers of service providers.

To facilitate compliance, Mr Chiloba directed all operators to standardise their menus and messages once a subscriber dials the USSD code to allow them to check their registration status wherever they are.

“The USSD code *106# shall be used by all operators for verification. This means that subscribers do not have to physically present themselves at the operator’s customer service centres unless there is an anomaly,” he said.

The code allows Kenyans to confirm phone numbers registered under their national identity cards. He also said that subscribers are “not required to submit photos of themselves” during the exercise, and that the photo on a subscriber’s identity card will suffice. However, records of subscribers must include details of the national ID, service cards for disciplined forces, passports and birth certification, whichever is applicable.

Subscribers who registered their SIM cards before 2015, when the regulations were gazetted, are required to visit telecommunication agents to update their details if the *106# query does not produce a valid detail of numbers registered under a particular identity card.

Parents who have used their IDs to register minors are required to ensure that the lines are regularised by submitting birth certificate details of the minors.

Inspection exercise

Mr Chiloba said the directive followed an inspection exercise on SIM card registration that was carried out by the agency in 22 counties last year. They realised that some cards were registered using other people’s IDs, or other documents such as student and National Social Security Fund cards, he said.

In some instances, the cards were given for free while others used fake ID numbers. Other cards were sold without the presentation of an identification document and no verification was done.

“The requirement to update subscriber registration details is being done primarily to protect consumers of telecommunication services – who is you and me. Incidences of sim-boxing, financial fraud, kidnapping, terrorism and related crimes prevail in situations of compromised SIM card registration processes. How can we win the war against such crimes if we cannot participate by ensuring that we have updated records?” Mr Chiloba asked.

He defended the exercise, saying that details given by M-Pesa subscribers were not sufficient to be used in registering the lines. He also denied that the registration was being done to facilitate rigging in the August 9 elections.

He directed operators and subscribers to cooperate to ensure full compliance with legal requirements of registration, which will continue until April 15.

Mandatory

“It is mandatory that telecommunication operators keep updated records of all their subscribers. Those who do not do so will have to pay sh300, 000 per violation (every SIM card). Citizens who provide information that is not true are subject to the same penalty,” said Mr Chiloba.

At the press conference, Safaricom’s Chief Corporate Security Officer Nicholas Mulila said the company has validated over 65 per cent of its subscribers.

Airtel Managing Director Prasanta Das Sarma said they had seen 52 per cent compliance.