THE Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has threatened legal action against mobile service providers selling active sim cards.
ZICTA type approval engineer, Elliot Kabalo said the Statutory Instrument number 65 of 2011 bars mobile service providers from selling active sim cards.
Mr Kabalo said the authority was dismayed during a random check in Nakonde and Isoka in Muchinga province, to find agents of some mobile service providers, particularly MTN-Zambia, selling active sim cards.
“This against the deadline of the sim registration regime. The mobile service providers know that no operator is allowed to sell an active card,” he said.
He said all the mobile service providers found wanting will be handed over to the legal department at ZICTA to commence prosecution.
ZICTA consumer protection officer, Edgar Mlauzi the authority also discovered that Airtel Networks was registering Tanzanian subscribers using voters’ cards.
Mr Mlauzi said the law was very clear that all foreign subscribers must only have their sim cards registered upon provision of a valid passport or a work permit.
“These are security guidelines that mobile service providers are very familiar with and must be adhering to at all costs,” he said.
Isoka District council chairperson Moses Simwanza bemoaned the lack of Information Communication Technology (ICT) facilities at schools in rural districts like Isoka.
Mr Simwanza said affected pupils risked lagging behind in ICTs subjects that were recently included on the school curriculum and could affect their performance at tertiary level.
What is wrong with that? You want people buying a card for use for very short periods to register and then throw awaythe cards, and leave statistics that they were registered subscribers? I think a limit to the period of such cards remaining active without registration should be agreed. Unless the whole motive of sim reg is not pure!
Big brother state of affairs! I will be roaming whenever I am in Zamunda.
So now tourists and business men and women visiting our Country Zambia are not allowed to buy a sim card to use whilst in the Country? What is this? What security guidelines? Security from what? How is this going to help tourism industry grow for instance? What message is Zambia sending to potential investors in developed Countries? Just what is going on??
Whatever happened to the other lawsuit against network providers. ..it just disappeared like a fart in the wind. There are no investigative journalism in Zambia.
For how long does take to activate the SIM card once bought and registered ? The tourists they have to register Zambian SIM card using their passports.
Some tourists use Travel Documents only.
what ever the case they have to register,unless you have not traveled out,even the same tourists, go to their country you will be made to register through your passport and they know this,why do you want to be so inferior in your thinking, its a law we have put in place and every body should abide by it nothing like short time what what no if they don’t want let them, why is it that us are made to register when we go out.I was in china its the same thing
@wazabanga,don’t say low in thinking to your lack of world exposure,Zambians in USA know very well,that metro PC,straight talk phones in WalMart and many others don’t require any I’d.alot of illegal immigrants have no any documents but they have active phones.am not conversant of Europe.but Asia and south east Asia,north America,some mobile agents don’t bother unless u want a contract phone.
Same in you Europe you can go to a kiosk and buy a prepaid sim card no need of registering
@Wazabanga, law is flawed because:-
1.) one can enter Zambia with his/her pay-as-you-go mobile phone and continue using it freely as normal (roaming) but as soon as one buys a local sim card suddenly they are deemed a security risk and must register.
2.) this law is counter productive. It is discouraging visitors from spending more money in Zambia as they will simply roam, which means less job creation for Zambian mobile phone companies.
3.) this law is discouraging visitors because people, especially from developed Countries, do not want to give out personal details for fear of fraud. So they simply will go to other Countries where the laws are more protective and welcoming, and Zambia is losing.
CACTUS don’t show your dullness, nobody said tourists should not buy sim cards, what we are saying is that they have to register using their passports period. More over it doesn’t take time to register its just a short period and whats wrong with that
@Wazabanga, your lack of capacity to think things thru, question them, and debate on an issue using credible points without degenerating into childish name calling speaks volumes about you as a person. You’ve got work to do. That explains why you’ve clearly missed the plot. Please note that:-
1.) For a long time people have entered our Country using Travel Documents only, for business, tours, etc.. ( just as Zambians have travelled out of the Country using Travel documents only. I travelled to Zimbabwe once like that). So, according to these so called security guidelines now in place in Zambia, these business people and tourists are not allowed to buy sim cards whilst in the Country. Not so?
2.) Even for those who come into our Country Zambia with their passports, these co called …
Cont’d ….. so called security regulations are very discouraging, especially those whose Countries of origin do not have such regulations, e.g. here in UK you can buy a sim card for pay-as-you-go from a grocery store as easily as buying chewing gum. You then buy a top-up voucher (cash £5, £10, or whatever amount you want and you walk out).
3.) You have not explained whether or not you understand what security the Govt is claiming to regulate when one can come into Zambia from abroad and roam freely like I did when I visited recently, But the moment I decided to buy a local sim card it suddenly became a security risk. What is this? Please explain this?.
In the last two years I have travelled to South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, India, Italy, Belgium and Kenya. From the 9 countries the only 1 in which I could buy a simcard and use it without registering is Namibia. The main reason countries now require registration is for authorities to be able to track communication and transactions that take place over the mobile network in the event that they are used to commit crime. This can range from transmission of critical or sensitive information that may jeopardise national security to committing of fraud especially in these days of electronic payments, internet banking and mobile banking. However the unfortunate part is the same surveillance will also be used to clamp down on freedom of speech and political opposition by tyrants
@blabla no.7. Concur. Our personal freedoms are being interfered with. We all have to be treated as though we are criminals; these laws do NOT target specific individuals. Despite assurances, we are not able to know how far covert monitoring goes. I support law and order, but as a Christian, I have ask why want to control us. Currently under research is digital mind control. A research tested an ‘electrode’ connected to the brain, which was able to ‘read’ what muscle movement the ‘tested’ person wanted to move and did the action for the individual! Don’t get me started……..! BUT yes criminals must be apprehended.
Ishina ati Elliot Kabolo, kuti alandapo nefya mano sure?
Ishina ati Elliot Kabollo, kuti alanda ifyamano?
The fact of the matter is that these so called security guidelines are not in the best interest of our Country for reasons explained above. So the question is:- Why are they really there? The devil is in the answer.