Attempts across Africa to manage the proliferation of SIM cards are continuing. This time it’s Tunisia’s turn.
The Tunisian Ministry of Communication Technologies and the country’s National Telecommunications Authority (INT) have asked telecom operators to deactivate unidentified SIM cards – or those with incomplete identification. The service will be activated only after the line is associated with a valid ID.
Other measures planned include updating the registers by correcting errors and completing missing data, and requiring operators to identify the subscriber and verify the correspondence with an official identity document. There are also plans to prohibit the ‘anarchic’ sale of SIM cards in the streets and public markets. An additional aim is for each user to be allowed to verify the numbers associated with their identity with all telephone operators.
As with a lot of similar initiatives in recent years, the context is the growth of cybercrime and financial fraud driven, in turn, by the rapid growth of mobile and internet services, as well as the increased use of digital services.
According to the Ecofin news agency, Tunisia has an estimated 16 million mobile phone subscribers – a penetration rate well in excess of the actual population recently estimated at roughly 12.3 million. The number of mobile Internet users is 10 million.
Not surprisingly, it is felt that these figures may have been inflated by ownership of different SIM cards and regular changing of mobile phone numbers.
It is not clear what the deadline is for operators to complete this work. Of course other (albeit more populous) countries like Nigeria that have tried SIM registration have found it a much more laborious process than expected.
