The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has banned the sale of sim cards at places not licensed by the city authority and those without card reading services linked to the national ID database.
Speaking to journalists today, the executive director of UCC, Godfrey Mutabazi said that “the SIM card is a converged document that we now attach high value to.”
Telecom operators, under the new guidelines, now have the tough task of establishing card reading services linked to the national ID database and the task of switching off sim cards that are not linked to national identification number.
The regulations come just a week after the gruesome kidnap and murder of Susan Magara.
Following the murder, investigators revealed that the kidnappers had used at least 17 different sim cards to contact the family.
Mutabazi said: “We notice that criminals have exploited the gaps in the sim card registration process and we reiterate that these guidelines must be followed."
Yet these regulations are also not new to the public. Last year, UCC tasked telecoms to re-register sim cards and link them to the National identification number.