Namibia: government extends deadline for SIM card registration to March
January 3rd 2024
Announced in October 2021, the campaign to identify Namibian telecom subscribers was launched on January 1, 2023 and should end on December 31, 2023. As of December 27, 62.5% of SIM cards were registered.
Namibia’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT) has extended the deadline for registering SIM cards by three months. The financial year which was initially scheduled to end on December 31, 2023 will continue until March 31, 2023.
According to Peya Mushelenga (photo), Minister of ICT, the decision to extend the deadline followed consultations with stakeholders. “ SIM card registration is not an unlimited process. Cards that are not registered on time will be suspended, resulting in unintended consequences. I invite all subscribers who have not yet done so to take advantage of the grace period ,” he added.
The campaign to identify Namibian telecom subscribers was launched on January 1, 2023 and is expected to end on December 31 of the same year. As of December 27, 2023, 62.5% of SIM cards were already registered, according to data provided by the authorities. This worries telecom operators and banks who believe that disconnecting thousands of unregistered SIM cards will cause them to lose revenue .
Recall that the registration of SIM cards was first announced in October 2021. The initiative is in line with the “Communications Act” published by the government in March of the same year. Ultimately, it should make it possible to combat cybercrime in Namibia and improve the effective regulation of the national technological landscape.
Source: Agence Ecofin Back