Following a directive by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) Airtel Uganda will deactivate all pre-activated and non-registered SIM cards by midnight.
“At Airtel we follow strict KYC compliance guidelines as set by the regulator; and therefore we will implement the directive issued by UCC. We will provide all necessary support as required by our regulator to ensure that the security of the country is not compromised,” Airtel Uganda Managing Director, Anwar Soussa said in a release.
Earlier in the day UCC Executive Director Godfrey Mutabazi had issued a directive ordering all telecommunication companies to switch off all unregistered sim cards.
This followed complaints from police, accusing the body of hampering their work since many criminals were reportedly using unregistered sim cards to carry out their heinous acts.