Staff Reporter
THE Mobile Telecommunication Company (MTC) announced that following the conclusion of the mandatory Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) registration exercise on March 31, 2024, it has successfully registered 1,613,893 customers, while 323,236 clients’ mobile numbers were suspended. This represents an 83.3% registration rate.
Tim Ekandjo, MTC’s Chief Human Capital, Corporate Affairs, and Marketing Officer, highlighted, “As per the Authority’s directive, the registration process ended on March 31, 2024, following the extension from the initial deadline of December 31, 2023. Consequently, unregistered customers will unfortunately be suspended from the network. However, suspension does not entail deactivation of their numbers. Rather, a suspended number will not be able to utilize any services until compliance with the SIM registration process. This process will last for 90 days, effective from April 1 to July 1, 2024, or as otherwise decided by the Authority. This period is referred to as the ‘grace period’.”
He added that if the “grace period” expires without action taken by a SIM owner, the number will be permanently deactivated/deleted from the network.
Ekandjo said that the unregistered customers (323,236) contribute approximately 3.1% of revenue, translating to an average of NAD 8.1 million in revenue per month.
“MTC has always maintained that it would require 24 months to successfully finalize the SIM registration process. Despite our best efforts, we have encountered challenges in finalizing the registration process for all customers, as previously communicated to the Authority – such as the geographical vastness of our country among other socio-economic conditions, which made it impossible for some members of the public to register on time,” expressed Ekandjo.
He concluded that while MTC would have welcomed an extended time to register all customers, the reality is that MTC must act accordingly and follow the directive to suspend numbers, as stipulated by the Authority. “Should any new developments arise pertaining to SIM registration, we will inform our consumers accordingly,” Ekandjo said.
