Over 124,000 SIM cards had been deactivated, Communications Authority of Kenya has said.
CAK Director General Ezra Chiloba said this is in a bid to curb illegally registered cards in the country as at the end of March 2022.
‘‘The decline in SIM subscriptions is partly attributed to the ongoing SIM registration exercise during which a number of SIM cards have been deactivated,’’ Chiloba said in a report.
The quarterly report covering the three months to March shows the number of active SIM cards declined by 124,689 to stand at 64.9 million.
This down from 65.1 million subscriptions in the preceding quarter.
Chiloba said the move is meant to curb misuse of SIM cards for criminal purposes.
This has seen subscribers flag off SIM cards illegally registered in their names, which have been effectively deactivated by the operators.
Chiloba said the authority requires mobile operators to ensure they have updated registration details of their subscribers, in line with the SIM Card Registration Regulations 2015.
“The exercise was meant to ensure 100 per cent compliance with the SIM card registration regulations, which, among other things, require operators to retain a copy of identification documents of every subscriber.”
CAK extended the deadline for the SIM card registration by six months.
The government agency extended the deadline after a majority of Kenyans failed to register their SIM cards by April 15.
The deadline for subscribers to update their registration details is 15th October 2022. BY THE STAR