Integrated telecommunications services provider Airtel Kenya has said new SIM cards will only be activated after registration, to ensure compliance with guidelines laid out by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) on SIM card registration.
The SIM-cards will be registered by retailers, who will fill the details of the new customer to be sent to *700# for verification and activation, after which a confirmation message will be sent to the customer.
Airtel said: “All new SIM cards offered for sale by the company are only activated upon the successful completion of the subscriber registration process, ensuring that Airtel is fully compliant with the CCK guidelines for the new SIM registration and customer acquisition.”
Airtel has announced the new guidelines after it was forced to switch off over 324,000 of close to 822,500 lines after users failed to comply with the CCK directive.
The company is further encouraging its subscribers who are yet to self register to do so using 800#, as it continues with the switch-off exercise.
The self-registration menu provides customers with a menu to fill in all the details required by the industry regulator, including names, telephone and identification documents from their handsets.
“We are implementing the directive from CCK to suspend unregistered lines and we will continue to do so until all existing unregistered lines are cleared. We have also made it convenient for our customers to register their lines by simply dialing *800# for the self-registration process,” said Airtel Kenya’s managing director Shivan Bhargava.
The move by the company makes it the first network provider to put forward such directives with telecommunication companies offering services to unregistered lines risking heavy fines.
