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Dr Jabir Bakari, director general for the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) said in Dar es Salaam that unverified active SIM cards still unverified after the deadline will be put off air.
The exercise is meant to deflect communication fraud and ensure user safety, he said, underlining that it is a requirement for each user of telecommunications services to verify active phone numbers using a citizenship ID.
Alternatively, they can use a NIDA-provided national identification number which can be obtained from offices of the National Identification Authority (NIDA), he said.
The agency has embarked on a public awareness campaign to reduce the number of sim cards registered by third party identification, he said, insisting that some telecommunication service users were misusing their sim cards by exploiting a loophole that allows them to remain under the registration of third parties.
TCRA wants to ensure that all users are identified by their sim cards, registered using their own national identification information and not via borrowed identification, he asserted.
There could be unscrupulous users engaging in unlawful and disagreeable activities using telecommunication services in that way, so the current exercise aims at deterring perpetrators from disturbing the telecom usage ecosystem, he declared.
The exercise is meant to establish a more accurate database of valid active SIM cards in the country, enhance lawful ownership of sim cards and ascertain well projected data of vivid telecommunication service users countrywide, he said.
This shall enhance correct reportage of communication sector performance, he remarked, demanding that each user fully perform the sim card verification exercise.
“We shall succeed in calming minor disturbances in the telecommunication service atmosphere created by the few unscrupulous users misusing communication space. Hence it will be safer for each of us in receiving services,” he further noted.
Thadayo Ringo, the TCRA customer and consumer affairs manager, said that the verification process is easy to execute, completed by anyone using a telecommunication device. TCRA has assigned code *106# use free of charge for the purpose, he said.
“Users will need to dial *106#, after which a service menu with options 1 through 5 will appear on their device screen. If they select option 3, they will be able to view quantity of phone numbers registered from all networks that are associated with the nationality ID number. If the user discovers additional known or unknown mobile phone numbers associated with their NIDA identification number, they shall be required to take action like contacting the service provider’s agent kiosks or mobile network operator’s nearby service shop to delete the unaccounted-for number(s),” he elaborated.
TCRA has observed that some users of mobile network services have avoided verifying their sim-cards avoid being identified by their original identity and detection of criminal acts they commit using telecommunication services. They opt instead for a technique of purchasing sim cards from law-breaking agents, sim cards potentially used to commit unlawful acts.
The law requires all users of telecommunication services to have their sim cards registered using own national identification, which TCRA is moving to enforce.
Secondary users who acquired sim-cards registered using identification data of third parties must re-register by changing identification information before the end of January or have their sim cards deactivated, he affirmed.
Early November 2022, TCRA announced that 52,087 mobile phone numbers had been blacklisted or phased out, especially those linked with mischievous messages to send money to the specified number.
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