The Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) has directed mobile operators to take action in the next 60 days to ensure compliance with the SIM registration exercise, including the deactivation of non-compliant mobile subscriptions.
In a statement issued on Monday, 17th October, CA Director General Ezra Chiloba said that mobile operators have been asked to take additional steps to ensure 100 per cent compliance in the next 60 days.
According to Chiloba the additional 60 days is not an extension from the deadline but a period to enhance full compliance by taking further actions including denial of services.
“Taking into account the improved level of performance so far, operators are directed to take additional steps to ensure 100 per cent compliance in the next 60 days. The 60 days is not an extension, but a period for the mobile operators to take certain actions including denial of service to prompt further compliance,” noted CA Director General Ezra Chiloba.
“These steps include graduated denial of service to SIM card holders’ not duly registered and eventual deactivation. The services to be affected by this action include voice, SMS, data and mobile banking services.”
At the end of the 60 days, the regulator is expected to conduct a compliance audit to ascertain the level of compliance with operators found to be non-compliant being liable to regulatory measures including penalties capped at no more than 0.5 per cent of their annual gross turnover.
So far the compliance levels for two of the leading operators including Safaricom and Airtel stand at 93 per cent and 81.2 per cent respectively.
The initial deadline to switch off all unregistered SIM cards was in April but it was further extended to 15th October 2022.
