Thousands of SIM lines switched off leaving many stranded
Thousands of cell phone lines have been turned off after October 15, 2022, SIM registration deadline elapsed.
Leading telecom provider Safaricom issued messages to the impacted customers requesting that they come into one of its mobile shops to have the blocked connections unblocked.
“Dear customer, your line has been suspended pending a registration update. Visit the nearest M-Pesa or Safaricom shop to update your ID,” the company said in a message to one of its clients.
Users of Airtel and Telkom were also affected.
The move, according to the CA, will enable the government to sift out fraudsters and criminals who utilise illegal cell phone connections to commit crimes.
The agency confirmed on Friday, October 14, that customers whose cell phone lines would be blocked after the registration deadline would still be able to reactivate them in later days. The agency stated that registration is a continuous procedure that cannot be limited to a certain date.
“Operators are not going to stop the exercise because of the October 15, deadline. We expect them to continue with the process,” said CA’s Telecoms Licensing and Compliance Assistant Director Liston Kirui.
The Communications Authority of Kenya had earlier set the SIM card registration deadline as April 15, but revised it to October 15.
According to data obtained from telecommunication operators by Thursday, close to 53.2 million SIM cards had been duly registered, leaving a balance of 11.5 million SIM cards out of the 64.7 million total mobile (SIM) subscriptions.
As of Thursday’s business closing, leading telecom service provider Safaricom had 38 million properly registered lines, or 91 per cent, of its lines registered.
Telkom had the lowest compliance percentage at 40 per cent or 1.8 million SIM cards, while Airtel had 13.4 million SIM cards that were properly registered, representing a rate of 78 per cent compliance.
In an effort to stop unlawfully registered lines in Kenya, the CA reported in June of this year that more than 124,000 SIM cards had been cancelled.
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