‘Register Sim cards or else’

via ‘Register Sim cards or else’ | The Herald 12 July  2014

Thousands of unregistered mobile phone subscribers face disconnection today, while those who lose their SIM cards will now be required to produce a police report to recover their lines.

Yesterday the country’s mobile phone operators, NetOne, Telecel and Econet warned their clients about the imminent disconnections, which they said were in line with revised Statutory regulations gazetted by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) last month.

The new regulations compel all mobile phone subscribers to register their sim cards and Potraz had given operators up to yesterday to comply with the new Statutory Instrument 95 of 2014 that was gazetted on June 14.

“NetOne advises you to register your sim card by July 12 to avoid disconnection,” read a message sent to NetOne subscribers yesterday.

NetOne spokesperson Rutendo Chabururuka said his company would comply with Potraz guidelines and would de-register unregistered subscribers.

“We also strongly encourage full registration of sim cards from all our subscribers.”

Mr Chabururuka said starting from today all new sim card sales for NetOne numbers would be accompanied by a copy of the ID of the subscriber to ensure registration.

Telecel urged its unregistered subscribers to comply or risk being disconnected.

Econet Wireless spokesperson Mr Ranga Mberi said his company would not deviate from the Government’s directive.

Yesterday, Econet, Telecel and NetOne shops were a hive of activity as scores of unregistered subscribers jostled to register their sim cards before close of business.