Within a few days of this column millions of Ghanaian SIM cards may be disconnected, leaving great swathes of mobile phone users in the country out of touch.
Ghana’s ministry of communications confirmed last week its intention to proceed with the disconnection of all unregistered SIM cards, urging those who hadn’t completed the two-stage process to hurry up and do so. There have been several deadlines and extensions since the re-registration exercise kicked off on October 1.
Likewise, in Kenya, the communications authority announced compulsory re-registration of SIM cards — linked to a digital identity — by April 15 this year, before tacking on a six-month extension, which was reached midway through October. Another 60 days has since been added.
It’s not just about getting data on a system. There’s also been a pushback on data quality, as TelecomTalk reports, with Kenyan authorities deregistering about 200,000 SIMs with incorrect information. This will prove critical if and when SIM registration data is linked with other online databases, such as the registrar of companies and a “dead persons” database.
Kenya’s The Nation quotes the Communications Authority of Kenya emphasising that this doesn’t amount to another extension, but is instead “a period for the mobile operators to take certain actions including denial of service to prompt further compliance”.
The paper also suggests the country has seen a “surge in registrations” during the month, while various news sources are reporting compliance of 80%, or about 40-million SIMs registered. But the numbers vary widely, and the percentages don’t tally easily with other estimates of how many mobile phone users there are in the country (roughly 60-million is usually claimed) or how many SIMs a typical mobile user has.
Various other nations (on the continent and further abroad) are also taking on this kind of mass identity registration effort, not just registering SIMs as we did with Rica, but further linking these to digital IDs, such as Nigeria’s National Identity Number (NIN). In April, Nigeria reportedly blocked or disconnected about 73-million SIMs, or roughly a third of all active mobile numbers in the country for non-compliance and false information.
These programmes are ostensibly a tactic for reducing mobile-based scams and spam, as well as organised crime that uses unregistered mobile numbers as tools in illegal activities. That’s well and good in theory, but does the reality stack up?
The short answer: no.
The longer answer: probably not, and it comes with all kinds of unwanted surveillance and privacy side effects, as well as effectively limiting communications access for the most vulnerable.
We’ve learnt some of those lessons here in SA, or we’ve witnessed the consequences of similar policies. There’s no real evidence that we’ve taken the “learnings” on-board.
Although we have SIM card registration, it’s laughably easy to get your hands on a SIM without doing so. Test it yourself by walking into any small “café” or corner shop today. As long as you don’t look like a total narc (and probably even then) you’ll be handed one for a few rand, no questions asked.
If you’re more ambitious than that, you can partake in the national past time of identity fraud before registering a new SIM under someone else’s details. Fraudulent SIM swaps are also a thing. The SA Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) says in a report released last week that SIM swaps are surging (up 63% in 2021 from 2020), and that they directly enable financial and banking fraud.
And, while I’m reluctant to extrapolate from my own experiences to universal ones, I’ve been struck by the increase in attempted smishing I’ve been receiving this year. Smishing — in case you’re out of the loop — is a phishing scam that comes your way via SMS, or “text” if you’re under 35. I’ve won a “Take-A-Lot” [sic] giveaway twice already this week, a “World Health Organization” (WHO) lotto earlier this month, as well as several outstanding disbursements I wasn’t expecting waiting for me to “just” fill in a quick form before payment is completed.
The above examples are usually easy to spot. The grammar is bad, the ripped-off brand names butchered, and the WHO isn’t exactly known for its individual lottery programmes. But they are not all that bad. If I was more regularly transacting on a Luno account, for example, those ones might give me pause, and as a prodigious online shopper (honestly, why shop any other way?) the SMSs threatening that delivery has gone awry have warranted a second look.
The waylaid parcel scam is a common one, both on your mobile and in your inbox. The SA Post Office issued a warning on this scam last week, proving only that they are more capable of delivering a press release than the post. On Monday, they were also thrown under the bus by Road Traffic Management Corporation CEO Makhosini Msibi as playing a role in their R3bn loss because of fraudulent vehicle licences, through not reporting post office closures timeously or securing licence printing equipment.
So, it seems, there are many ways to circumvent SIM registrations and many more ways to scam it. There are also legitimate reasons you may wish to have a SIM unlinked to your identity, if you’re a corporate whistle-blower, investigative journalist or political activist, for example. And what of those who have no ID, no fixed address, are part of a targeted minority or migrant workers?
A digital ID or traceable SIM may be nice to have from the government’s point of view, but all these programmes do for me is underline the point: we need universal recognition and national implementations of fundamental digital and privacy rights first.
• Thompson Davy, a freelance journalist, is an impactAFRICA fellow and WanaData member.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.