The Communications Authority of Kenya has extended the SIM card registration by six months.
Kenyans now have up to October 15 this year to have their details updated by the respective telecommunications companies.
CA has also warned that it will fine users who will not have registered their SIM cards by the lapse of the new deadline.
The government agency extended the deadline after hundreds of thousands of Kenyans failed to meet the April 15 one.
The extension also followed extensive consultations between CA and the Mobile Network Operators (MNO).
CA’s Director General, Ezra Chiloba, and the MNOs held a meeting on Thursday, April 14 to assess the success rate of the exercise.
"It is the responsibility of the operators who will advise on whether to switch off the unregistered lines or probably give an extension and allow as many Kenyans as possible to register," Chiloba had stated in an earlier presser.
CA maintained that the registration exercise is anchored in the constitution mandating mobile Network Operators to carry out the exercise.
"The requirement to update subscriber registration details is being done primarily to protect consumers of telecommunication services – who is you and me. Incidences of sim-boxing, financial fraud, kidnapping, terrorism, and related crimes prevail in situations of compromised sim card registration processes," Chiloba remarked.
Mobile subscribers can, however, do a self registration after the leading telcos in the country created online portals where customers can upload their details.
This is in line with the latest push to enforce vigorous regulations by capturing the data of millions of subscribers.
