The last campaign to identify Tanzanian telecom subscribers was due to end on January 31. However, the government has postponed the deadline until February 13 to allow all citizens using telecom services to comply.

The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has started disconnecting the 970,046 mobile phone lines that had not yet been identified. This was announced last weekend by Semu Mwakyanjala, the regulator’s chief communications officer.

At midnight on February 13, the telecom subscriber identification campaign ended with 60.47 million SIM cards verified out of 61.44 million. Telecom operators immediately began suspending telecom services for all lines that had not yet been identified in accordance with TCRA guidelines. Suspended lines will be stored for 90 days to allow users to consult or even verify them.

It is since 2019 that the Tanzanian telecoms regulator has been trying to enforce the texts in force in the country on the registration of SIM cards. A first operation to identify telecom subscribers took place from May 1, 2019 to January 20, 2020. It was followed by a vast campaign of repression which saw the deactivation of millions of SIM cards.

The Tanzanian government’s efforts to verify the SIM cards of telecom subscribers are justified by the increase in mobile fraud in the country. According to the TCRA, Tanzania recorded a total of 12,613 fraudulent practices using SIM cards between October and the end of December 2022. These practices include SIM box fraud, identity theft, financial scam…

The verification of telecom subscribers should notably help to combat the growing cybercrime in the Tanzanian digital space. It is also expected to update databases of active SIM cards to improve reporting on the performance of the Tanzanian telecommunications sector.

Source: Agence Ecofin