Consumers, operators get Rica reprieve

The Department of Justice has yielded to requests from the mobile operators to extend the deadline by when consumers have to register their sim cards. The new deadline is June 30 2011.

TechCentral is in possession of the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act (Rica) Amendment Bill that is being sent to Parliament for approval.

The deadline has been extended from end-December 2010, giving consumers another six months to register.

Rica, enacted last year, requires all telecommunications companies and internet service providers to register customer details, including their identity numbers and physical addresses.

If consumers are not registered, the companies are required to disconnect the subscribers from their networks.

Mobile operators have battled to get all their subscribers to register, and have spent a fortune on advertising and deploying registration equipment to all retail stores that sell Sim cards.

Operators will be pleased with the new deadline. It’s the date they had wanted for an extension.—TechCentral