The Uganda Consumer Protection Association (UCPA) has cautioned that banning the selling of airtime and sim cards on the streets shall not end cyber related crime.
Sam Watasa the body’s executive director said the telecoms and the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) have capacity to track any criminal is they so wish.
He warned that the move will only kill people’s businesses.
“This is far beyond airtime vending because accessing airtime is currently very easy in Uganda, therefore UCC needs to use other measures to solves its failures,” said Watasa.
Watasa blamed both the regulator and the telecoms for the weak distribution channels of sim cards that has been a security threat to the country.
He accused UCC of failing to put in place strong measures to enable them implement the sim card registration.
In his statement Godfrey Mutabazi, the UCC executive director, noted that the directive is a result of the increased cyber crime in the country.