This archive report was first published on 28 November 2019.
Kenya's Communications Authority (CA) has proposed new regulations to crack down on SIM card hawking, a move that could render thousands jobless. The new rules aim to streamline SIM card registration by agents, which has been a headache to the regulator and telcos like Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom due to fraudulent use by some subscribers.
According to the proposed guidelines, telcos are compelled to only employ registration agents who the CA has licensed. Those found in breach of the regulations will face penalties, including a fine not exceeding Sh300,000 or six months imprisonment or both.
Under the Registration of SIM Card Registration Regulations (2015), anyone who is not licensed to sell and register SIM cards is liable to a fine not exceeding Sh300,000 or to six months imprisonment or both if found guilty of the offence.
The new rules come a year after the regulator ordered Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom to deactivate fraudulently registered SIM cards, which saw more than 0.5 million subscribers switched off. Airtel said it switched off 584,134 SIM cards while Telkom deactivated 14,373 subscribers from its network following the directive.
As of June, Safaricom held more than half of the local mobile phone users at 33.1 million out of the total 52.17 million subscribers, according to industry data. The data by the CA shows that Airtel had 12.8 million with Telkom Kenya third at 4.2 million.
