The Communications Authority(CA) on Wednesday, November 27 put out a notice of its intention to amend laws concerning SIM card registration with an intent to curb SIM card fraud that according to the CA has been on the rise in the recent past.
The proposed registration guidelines, as outlined by the CA will bar all telecommunication companies from hawking their cards on the streets.
In the notice, the CA issued a directive for telcos to employ registration agents who have been licensed by the regulator. Breach of these rules would result in monetary sanctions in addition to jail terms.
The regulator stated that Telcos had turned to street vendors in a bid to grow their business, but this had, in turn, resulted in more cases of fraud.
"Telecommunications operators and registration agents shall sell and register SIM cards only in formal retail outlets even during promotions, and shall ensure no hawking of SIM card registration services," the CA stated.
The Kenya Information and Communications Regulations Act, 2015 states, "anyone found guilty of hawking SIM cards shall be charged in court and upon conviction, be required to pay a fine of Ksh300,000 or a jail term not exceeding 6months."
The CA acknowledged that the existing guidelines had failed to curb the rising cases of fraud and thus an urgent need to enhance the regulations.
Under the new regulations, the CA proposes the duration within which a SIM card retained validity before registration to be 90 days.
The new rules and guidelines come a year after the regulator ordered telcos to switch off SIM cards that were fraudulently registered. Over 500,000 SIM cards were switched off.
According to the CA, there had been an increase in a trend whereby criminals stole identification cards already registered and used them to commit a litany of crimes; money laundering, kidnapping, cybercrime, and making malicious calls aimed at conning unsuspecting Kenyans of their money.
The authority has called upon members of the public to offer their insight on the draft regulation between November 26 to December 18, 2019.
