Vodacom Tanzania Disconnects 157,000 Unregistered SIMs

Vodacom Tanzania said it had barred 157,000 of its customers from accessing services after failing to biometrically register their SIM cards.
This followed an instruction from the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) to all operators to disconnect phone lines not biometrically registered effective from the 20th of January 2020.
Earlier on in January 2020, Tanzanian President, John Magufuli, confirmed that the initial deadline for biometric SIM card registration had been extended from the 31st of December 2019 to the 20th of January 2020.
At the time of the announcement, various reports indicated that more than 21 million SIM cards still remained unregistered.
Vodacom Tanzania’s Managing Director Hisham Hendi issued a statement saying that only those customers that had received national identification numbers (NINs) from National Identification Authority (NIDA) but had failed to register their lines ahead of the deadline had been affected.
Hendi added that the exercise would help reduce the number of fraudsters because using unique fingerprints would make it easier to combat conmen in the country.
The telco’s Director of Customer Services, Harriet Lwakatare, said barred customers could access Vodacom’s digital and self-help channels for more information on how to update their registration status.
*Source: itwebafrica.com