The grace period is over, and from now on, all phone subscribers in Uganda must have their SIM cards registered. The government says the primary aim is to fight phone-aided crime, especially terrorism and fraud.
“What is out rightly being disconnected are SUN cards that don’t have any documentation. We had a category called partial registration, maybe you came with an ID with a picture that fell off, and there was room to give you time.” Said Fred Otunnu, Uganda Communications Commission
The switch-off directive took effect on April 1st, after a three-year registration process. Many people were not aware of the deadline, and were surprised to discover their phones had been deactivated.
And there were some mistakes along the way – some people whose access was turned off were subscribers, but their data had not been properly recorded.
“I registered my SIMS but realized later that they are in some other people’s names, and now they’ve been disconnected. And yet my customers knew these numbers, which means I’m losing money.” Said Fazili Kasobya, Trader
Close to two million subscribers have been affected…
The government says most of them likely bought SIM cards from non-designated points, such as in the street, a practice which has now been banned.
“Street vendors have tended to pre-register the cards before they sell for the purpose of selling more cards. One person can go and purchase up to 50 cards, registers all in one name and most probably that person doesn’t even exist because they are not using national ID.” Said Fred Otunnu, Uganda Communications Commission
According to the state regulator, the telecom companies are complying with the deactivation directive. The security crackdown comes as cell phone use is on the rise as 60% of Ugandans have mobile phones, with some 23 million active subscriptions across the country.
