UCC releases guidelines for SIM card switch off
Hundreds of phone owners who went to Makindye Division Headquaters on Tuesday to get national identity numbers which are neccessary to register their sim cards. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
The Uganda Communications Commission has released guidelines for the deactivation of unverified, unvalidated and unregistered SIM cards.
This comes after the Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda reaffirmed last week that August 30, 2017 is the deadline for the validation of all sim cards.
According to the new guidelines, all SIM cards with a ‘NOT FOUND’ comment against their submission from NIRA, shall be switched off.
“A sim card that has been switched off during this 72 hour period, will be reactivated upon presentation of a National ID,” the guidelines state.
The switch off or deactivation involves barring all incoming and outgoing calls, SMS, and data services, according to the guidelines.
Only mobile money withdrawals will be enabled, but deposits and other payments will be disabled.
Unused mobile money balances will be retained in accordance with the mobile money regulations.
