Government has set March 29 2017 as deadline for the ongoing SIM card registration exercise.
This means that all SIM card which would have been registered by midnight tonight would be deactivated.
Uganda Communications Commission boss Godfrey Mutabazi however did not disclose whether those who have will be disconnected Wednesday night are only barred from receiving or making calls and can have their SIM cards reactivated after they register.
There is a history of Uganda government announcing deadlines but with Uganda Police detectives following among others a lead of an unregistered phone number sending threatening messages to murdered former police spokesman Andrew Felix Kaweesi, Mutabazi said the strict orders were meant to address insecurity and protect the telecom industry and the country from crime and rampant phone-related fraud.
The UCC Act requires telecommunication operators to register their subscribers within a specified period and keep their details.
Non-compliance with the law is an offence punishable by a fine of up to 10% of their gross annual revenues lost to UCC.
“Taking due cognisance of the law and the progress made and having due regard for rural areas, all non-registered and partially registered sim cards on the various networks must be deactivated by midnight of 29th March 2017 after which anyone procuring, selling or activating SIM cards in respect of which the person does not provide valid identity documents shall be liable for prosecution,” Mr Mutabazi said.
“Furthermore, I wish to inform the nation that this is the deadline by which all existing SIM cards in circulation that have not been registered ought to be registered.”
The only documents to be accepted at the point of registration will be one’s national identity card or valid passport. Previously, telecom operators were accepting other documents such as driving permits.
