UCC suspends SIM card registration for refugees

SIMCARD REGISTRATION

KAMPALA - Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) has ordered all Telecom operators to stop with immediate effect, registration of all sim cards using refugee identity cards and attestation letters from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).

"The commission is in the process of formulating stringent procedures with the OPM on the validation of refugee cards and attestation letters to mitigate further sim registration fraud," said UCC.

The UCC directive aimed at mitigating sim card registration fraud was issued early this week in a press statement.

UCC said the move follows local media reports that any person in Uganda can acquire a registered sim card using forged identity documents at Sh50, 000.

The commission warned that breach of the indefinite suspension will result into penalizing of the culprits.

"Until formally communicated, no further registration will be permitted with the documents mentioned above. Any telecom operator identified carrying out registration from the date of this notice may be penalized accordingly," the UCC executive director Godfrey Mutabazi said.

Following a spate of criminality that rocked Uganda in the past years, last year UCC issued sim card registration guidelines that would aid tracing criminals.

In their regulations, UCC requires a valid national identity card for one to register their sim card while foreigners must present either a valid passport, refugee ID or attestation letter issued by OPM.

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