The Sunday Mail
Harmony Agere
Some mobile phone SIM card traders in Harare are selling lines without registering purchasers, fuelling telecommunications violations and criminality. Though all three cellular service providers — Econet, NetOne and Telecel — have remained mum on the matter, the SIM cards are activated on purchase, suggesting they are recognised on their networks. Last week, The Sunday Mail bought Econet and NetOne SIM cards from a dealer at Fourth Street Bus Terminus in Harare despite not going through the requisite registration process.
It is unclear how the vendors secure the lines, though one account has it that they buy them in bulk from cellular service operators. The Postal and Telecommunications Authority of Zimbabwe has previously instructed operators to disconnect unregistered lines.
National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said, “Potraz are the ones who can provide detailed data on who is doing what and who is breaking which rules. But as police, we will investigate any report made about people who violate regulations by using unregistered lines.
“We also urge service providers to adhere to their prescribed regulations so that we reduce crime. People should use registered lines because if you are a law-abiding citizen, there should not be anything for you to fear.”
NetOne and Telecel had not responded to our inquiries by late Friday. Econet Wireless executive assistant to the group CEO Mr Lovemore Nyatsine said: “All lines that are used on our network are registered before they are activated. There are no unregistered SIM cards on our networks.
“We can’t comment on whether unregistered lines are being used to commit crime as this is for the police to comment (on), if indeed it is taking place. On our part, we abide by the statutory period to disconnect any line that has not been regularised in terms of the regulations, and this is done as a matter of routine.
“Econet has a KYC process that is implemented with input from key regulators Potraz and the Registrar of Births. This process is carried out on a daily basis and any lines that are in non-compliant state for more than seven days, a period stated by the regulator, Potraz, are terminated.”
In a written response to The Sunday Mail, Potraz said it would crack the whip on the three networks if they failed to monitor the activities of their customers. “We will simply tighten screws on the service providers for not constantly monitoring their clients. They should time and again check if their clients are putting their services to good use or not.
“When they realise that there are some irregularities, they should engage that individual or report to police. As the regulator, we will crack the whip on them to make sure that the public is not endangered by criminals using Econet, Telecel and NetOne lines.”
In 2015, Nigeria’s former finance minister Olu Falae was kidnapped by criminals who used unregistered MTN lines to entrap him and demand ransom. MTN was later fined US$5,2 billion for failing to disconnect unregistered lines, leading to the resignation of CEO Mr Sifiso Dabengwa.
In 2012, Kenya’s Telco faced several penalties after its unregistered lines where used to commit crimes.
