Communications regulator, UCC has lifted the ban on the replacement of stolen or damaged simcards weeks after the exercise was banned due to security concerns.
On Tuesday, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) announced that members of the public who seek to have their simcards replaced can access the service from telcos using the stipulated guidelines.
According to a statement issued by UCC on Tuesday, those that intend to replace or swap their sim cards will be required to provide a valid police report, and a letter from NIRA verifying and validating that his or her national ID is valid.
But according to a statement released by UCC this afternoon, some “exceptional circumstances” led to a decision to lift this ban. The re-registration of the user applicant will done by the given telco using the applicant’s bio metrics and a photograph.
“He/she will be issued with a fresh sim card registration form and the company will ensure that he/she is using the new car in a genuine Type Approved device,” the statement said.
Asked what caused the lifting of the ban, UCC’s Public Relations Officer, Pamela Ankunda told SoftPower News that there was “a slight delay” in the installation of the interface with NIRA.
“We had hoped that the interface with NIRA for the real time validation and verification of simcards against the National Identification Cards would be installed, but we have been notified that there is a slight delay in this,” Pamela Ankunda said in an interview with this website.
“As such, we have told the telcos to issue simcards to those who want the simcard replaced, say if it has been stolen or lost,” she added.
Earlier this month, UCC ordered telecommunications service providers operating in Uganda to stop the issuance of new simcards or their replacement with immediate effect until they install Application Programming Interface (API) that would verify customer identification with the information in the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) database.
UCC Executive Director, Eng Godfrey Mutabazi had explained that the Identification Card readers would help to eliminate cases of selling simcards to unknown persons.
In addition, the regulator instructed telcos to recall all pre registered simcards that were activated in abuse of the verification procedure.
The stringent procedures in the acquisition of simcards follows a directive by government to the regulator to close the loopholes that criminals have recently exploited to commit serious crimes including kidnap and murder. Some of these kidnappers have been using non registered simcards to solicit for ransom among other crimes.
Tuesday’s decision follows public outcry citing frustration of communication as well as business especially for those who had saved their money on the different Mobile Money platforms and could no longer transact.