You are not required to submit your photo during SIM card registration – Chiloba
Director-General of the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) Ezra Chiloba has issued new directives regarding the ongoing SIM card registration exercise among mobile users.
In a press statement, Chiloba said that the registration exercise is a validation process in which the CA seeks to know if mobile service customers who had previously registered rendered the right details during their SIM registration exercise.
"We have agreed that this is not a re-registration or fresh registration exercise. It is an opportunity for operators and their customers to validate respective details of registration. The exercise will address the documentation gaps that have become commonplace," Chiloba said.
During this validation/registration exercise, Chiloba said that customers will not have to take photos of themselves and give them to their mobile service providers as has been witnessed in the past few days.
He said that the subscribers will only have to render their national IDs, birth certificates or service cards where necessary.
"The regulations do not require subscribers to submit photos of themselves during registration or verification exercise. However, records of subscribers must include identification documents such as the National ID, service cards for disciplined forces, passports and birth certification whichever is applicable," he said.
He further noted that those having doubts about their registration status doesn't have to visit their service providers' shops to check their details. He said that such subscribers will only have to dial USSD code *106# and then press okay to check their details.
The director-general said that this code will be used by all providers in confirmation of the details.
Despite giving a leeway into some processes in the registration process, Chiloba however insisted that the registration exercise will end on the 15th of April upon which if a subscriber fails to register his or her SIM card will be blocked and may risk a six-month jail term of Ksh300,000 or both.
He, however, noted that the registration exercise is not meant to punish Kenyans but to caution them against cybercrime-related threats.
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," he said.
