By XAVIER MANCHISHI
THE Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has threatened legal action against mobile service providers selling active sim cards.
ZICTA Type Approval engineer, Elliot Kabalo said the Statutory Instrument number 65 of 2011 bars mobile service providers from selling active sim cards.
Mr Kabalo said the authority was dismayed during a random check in Nakonde and Isoka in Muchinga Province, to find agents of some mobile service providers selling active sim cards.
“This is against the deadline of the sim registration regime. The mobile service providers know that no operator is allowed to sell an active card,” he said.
He said all the mobile service providers found wanting will be handed over to the legal department at ZICTA to commence prosecution.
ZICTA Consumer Protection officer, Edgar Mlauzi said the authority also discovered a particular network was registering Tanzanian subscribers using voters’ cards.
Mr Mlauzi said the law was very clear that all foreign subscribers must only have their sim cards registered upon provision of a valid passport or a work permit.
“These are security guidelines that mobile service providers are very familiar with and must be adhering to at all costs,” he said.
Isoka District council chairperson Moses Simwanza bemoaned the lack of Information Communication Technology facilities at schools in rural districts like Isoka.
Mr Simwanza said affected pupils risked lagging behind in ICTs subjects that were recently included on the school curriculum and could affect their performance at tertiary level.