The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) says it’s deactivating more than 500,000 non-compliant SIM cards. The Zambian ICT Regulatory Body says it’s carrying out this task across the country to further check for fraudulent activities.
When speaking to the media, acting ZICTA director-general Mwenya Mutale stated that the regulator anticipates deactivating SIM cards of those who have violated the norm of no more than 10 SIM cards per person without justification.
Mutale went on to say that non-compliant SIM cards will have their outgoing call services blocked immediately, although they will still be able to receive incoming calls.
In his warning, he stated that those who are still non-compliant will be unable to make or receive calls and that subscribers will have 14 days from the start of the service suspension to claim their deactivated SIM cards, failing which they will lose their phone numbers.
Mutale went on to say that the Authority is compelled to adopt this course of action in order to combat mobile money fraud, which is a hindrance to the advancement of the digital economy.
According to the Zambian Information and Communications Technology Agency (ZICTA), the country has continued to see an increase in the use of digital financial services, with mobile money transactions increasing to K105.6 billion by the end of last year from K49.6 billion in 2019, representing an increase of 113 percent.
He stated that the government is collaborating with mobile service providers in order to improve the SIM card registration process. The acting ZICTA director-general says the government is planning to publish a new rule requiring people to justify why they have more than 10 SIM cards so that they can get to the bottom of these mobile money scams.
“We have also cooperated with law enforcement organisations to combat mobile money scams, which have claimed the lives of a large number of mobile money customers,” Mutale added.
The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) is an ICT Regulatory body responsible for regulating the ICT Sector in Zambia. It is overseen by a Board of the Authority consisting of nine none executive members and all decisions of the Board are executed by the Director-General and is supported by an executive team with expertise in law and enforcement, economics, technical and engineering, information technology, and finance.
