•CA Director General Ezra Chiloba said there will be no extension for Sim registration.
•He appeared to fault Kenyans for having a penchant for a last-minute rush in doing things while saying the registration exercise began in January.
Image: EZRA CHILOBA TWITTER
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has maintained that those who will not register their SIM card by the set deadline will face the consequence of being out of service.
Speaking on Friday during the launch of the KUZA Awards, CA Director General Ezra Chiloba said there will be no extension for Sim registration.
"If you don't do that (register) the telcos are going to switch you off. Looking at the situation across the country, the compliance rate is not good at all which means the risks are even much higher," he said.
Chiloba appeared to fault Kenyans for having a penchant for a last-minute rush in doing things while saying the registration exercise began in January.
The CA Director-General noted though the compliance rate is low, the set deadline of April 15 won't be extended.
"As usual what happens in this country is that people are very active towards the deadline but the campaigns for registration started in January and they were being led by the telcos themselves."
He added: "For the last two years, we have been working with operators by largely issuing directives to ensure that subscribers are properly registered for them to be able to access communication services for the greater good of our society".
The Former IEBC CEO revealed that Kenya has a total of 65 million registered SIM cards, a fact that he says must not be handled lightly considering the country has a population of about 50 million people.
"This means each and every person in this country including the newborn has a number attached to them. But we know some of us to have more than one SIM card. Some registered and others not," he said.
Chiloba urged Kenyans to comply with the registration exercise saying it seeks to better the communication sector services in the country for the good of the nation.
He noted that there is no need for Kenyans to lament over being asked for photos during the registration exercise yet the same people often share them on their social platforms.
The SIM registration exercise has seen a section of Kenyans raise concerns about its necessity considering that they provided the necessary information while registering their SIM cards for the first time.
A petition has already been filed seeking to block the exercise whose deadline has been slated for April 15.