UCC meets Kayihura, telecoms over SIM cards

UCC executive director Godfrey Mutabazi. Photo by Nancy Nanyonga

A closed meeting between Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), the Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura and all Telecom companies is underway at the UCC headquarters in Bugolobi.

The meeting was initiated by UCC for stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the continued presence of unregistered SIM cards in the country.

The meeting also comes at the backdrop of a UCC directive that all telecom operators should de-activate unregistered SIM cards.

However, despite the directive, unregistered SIM cards continue to be sold by vendors in various parts of the country.

It is expected that UCC and telecom operators want Kayihura to enforce UCC's ban on the sale of the SIM cards on streets.

UCC has directed that telecom operators should deactivate all unregistered SIM cards, decreeing that no person is allowed to register more than 10 cards in her or his name on any network. The ban on unregistered SIM cards started on March 30^th.

"The response from the operation has been very positive. The directive still stands. The ban will not be lifted. All unregistered Sim cards have been de-activated," Eng. Godfrey Mutabazi, the UCC executive director told New Vision, shortly after issuing the ban.

To further tighten the process of deactivation of all unregistered SIM cards, Mutabazi said a special meeting with all telecom operators in the country, will convene to review the entire SIM card registration exercise.

At today's meeting, UCC and the telecom operators are also expected to discuss how the deactivation process is being implemented so far.