Gambia: Africell sanctioned for violation of the law on the identification of subscribers
August 27th 2019
The mobile operator Africell has been sanctioned by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority of Gambia (PURA) for violation of the regulations relating to the identification of subscribers.
The company is accused of selling its already activated SIM cards to consumers without identifying them. Africell was thus fined 5 580 000 Dalasis (USD 111 085). That is 30,000 dalasis (597 USD) for each of 186 SIM cards illegally sold.
The action taken against Africell follows the results of the routine control exercise conducted nationally last July by the telecom regulator. Although Africell was the only company punished, Qcell and Gamcell received a formal notice, because the regulator also discovered that they sell SIM cards already activated without prior identification of the purchaser.
In order to prevent outlaw SIM cards from continuing to flood the market, putting security issues at risk, PURA has urged telecom companies to suspend their sale by third parties until corrective actions are taken. put in place. First, new SIM cards can only be sold in branches or customer service centers. Each operator will have to organize additional training for customer service agents and third-party sellers, raise awareness of the entire internal identification system, and institute additional checks and controls on the system.
Source: Agence Ecofin Back