August 31st, 2013 marked the end of the mandatory regulatory customer SIM registration exercise; the 18 month exercise was initiated in March 2012.
By the deadline of 31st August, MTN Uganda had successfully registered 96% of its close to 8.2 million active customer base leaving a total of just 327,548 active customers yet to be registered. These have been affected by the full deactivation process effective 1st September 2013 as communicated by the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC).
The initial period was focused on registering as many of its customers as possible as the company carried out a validation of the information laterally. “We have been able to achieve this however there is some back log in terms of verification. Customers whose details are yet to be verified will not be disconnected”, said Anthony Katamba, MTN Uganda’s General Manager Corporate Services.
All MTN Uganda customers that have completed the registration process are considered ‘registered’. The MTN customers whose SIM cards have been deactivated can still visit one of its Customer Service outlets (Service Centers) across the country along with the Registration Agents that will be open even after the deadline. They will be able to register and reconnect them in line with guidelines issued by UCC.
Katamba explained that the disconnection will affect SIM card based services including incoming and outgoing voice, SMS, MMS and internet data services. The disconnection however does not mean these subscribers have lost their SIMs or their airtime balances. Upon registration, the SIM cards will be reconnected. Disconnected subscribers will still be able to call the MTN helplines as well as the subscriber registration short code of 197 to get assistance on how to register and get reconnected.
“There will be no need for customers to buy new SIM cards but the existing MTN SIM cards will be reactivated after registration. We will make sure that all our customers are given equal opportunity to register and remain connected on MTN network”, he added.
MTN Uganda is presently carrying out a verification of all the subscriber information received and as you will appreciate verification of documents of over eight million subscribers is not an easy feat and as such it takes a lot of time. The verification exercise will continue even after 31st August 2013.
“We would like to thank our regulator, the Uganda Communications Commission, the Ministry of ICT and all the other telecommunications operators who have all worked hard to make this exercise a success. We also thank our customers most importantly for responding to the call to get registered,” Katamba concluded.
