Sim card registration deadline extended to May 19

Government has extended the deadline for Sim card registration to May 19.
In an April 19 letter addressed to Mr Godfrey Mutabazi, the Uganda Communications Commission executive director, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said the initial deadline of April 20 had been reviewed and extended to May 19.
“Reference is made to your letter dated 11th April 2017 wherein you directed all telecommunications service providers to verify all SIM card subscriber details within 7 days from Wednesday 12th April 2017. You directed that all subscribers of telecommunications services must update their SIM card registration details using their National Identification Card number, and all Sim cards whose details were not updated and verified by Thursday 20th April 2017 would be deactivated,” the letter read in part, adding “The government has reviewed the said timelines and taken a decision that the ongoing SIM card verification exercise should be extended to the 19th May 2017.”

The new deadline comes amid mounting pressure from the public to have the deadline extended.
The Uganda Law Society (ULS) recently termed UCC’s seven-day ultimatum to subscribers, among other things, as illegal.
UCC’s ultimatum, which involved Ugandans previously registered with different identity cards re-validating their registration using their National IDs, foreigners using passports, and refugees getting certification from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), was announced on April 11 at a joint press briefing by Mr Mutabazi, and Gen Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police, at UCC head offices in Kampala.

ULS president Francis Gimara noted that the law under Regulation 7(3) allows valid identification documents issued by government agencies such as National identity cards, work permits, passports, driving licence, student Identity cards and voter’s cards to be used for registration.
“If one form of identification is going to be preferred, then these regulations will have to be first amended,” Mr Gimara noted.
ULS, which, among other things, is mandated to “protect and assist the public in Uganda in matters touching, ancillary or incidental to the law”, advised UCC to go slow on the sim card registration process to give as many people a chance to take part in the process.

“We are of the view that the directive should not be in violation of the existing legal framework. We request that you convene a stakeholders meeting to discuss these issues so that we can collectively put in place legally acceptable mechanisms that will not disenfranchise people from accessing communication,” the statement added.
Also, Information Communication Technology Association of Uganda (ICTAU), on Thursday warned of “significant risks” if UCC went ahead and implemented its directive.
ICTAU, which brings together organisations and key ICT stakeholders in the country, in a two page letter, urged UCC to reconsider its directive.

Subsequently, the Minister for Information, Technology and Communication, Mr Frank Tumwebaze, in an interview said he was shocked that Ugandans were “missing the substance and going for form”.
ULS made a number of recommendations, including extension of the registration period to allow those without National IDs to get them, called for the passing of a bill on data protection and appealed to government to pass a comprehensive law to guide sim card registration such as in Kenya.