Uganda’s ongoing SIM card registration campaign was launched in 2018. It was initially based on the national identification numbers (NIN) of telecom subscribers. The government subsequently added biometric measures.
Subscribers to Ugandan telecommunications services have until Sunday, November 12 to register their SIM cards or risk seeing them deactivated. The ultimatum was given by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). More than 330,000 SIM cards are targeted.
According to Abudu Sallam Waiswa, Head of Legal and Compliance at UCC, the current exercise only concerns customers whose SIM cards have not been registered properly. “ What will happen is that all those who have not regularized their operation will have their number deactivated until they physically present themselves, with a national identity card, at the service centers respective ,” he added.
In 2018, Uganda began a SIM card registration process, initially based on National Identification Numbers (NIN). Subsequently, biometric measurements were added. On May 12, 2023, the government published new regulations aimed at streamlining SIM card registration procedures. Said regulation notably requires that operators contact customers with incorrect registrations within 180 days from the date of publication.
This government initiative should make it possible to strengthen security in the national cyber space in a context of accelerated digital transformation marked not only by the rapid and growing adoption of electronic communications services, but also by the resurgence of cases of fraud using these services.