If not you have another 15 days before it will be deactivated.

Mobile subscribers in the country have up to July 30 to register all their SIM cards with their respective service providers, the Government directed today. This Directive also applies to those taking up mobile phone services for the first time as well as those buying additional SIM cards.

The move follows several months of consultation between the industry regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and the Ministry of information and Communications on the one hand, and the country’s four mobile phone operators on the other. In July last year, President Mwai Kibaki ordered SIM card registration for all mobile subscribers in the country. The President’s directive was occasioned by widespread crimes being perpetuated using mobile phones. Such crimes include; handsets thefts, threats and hate messages, extortions and kidnapping, among others.  
Speaking at the launch of the SIM card registration exercise,  Information and Communication Minister Samuel Poghisio said the exercise is aimed at safeguarding the public against acts of insecurity, including the wide spread threats posed by terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, fraud, hate messages, and incitement that are now wide spread throughout the world.

“Kenya cannot afford to ignore or be left behind on initiatives aimed at safeguarding the public against such activities. We owe it to all Kenyans to ensure that everyone is safe.” said Hon. Poghisio.

The Minister said the Government is in the process of putting a law in place that will require address numerous issues relating to SIM registration. “Those who fail to register their SIM risk having their lines deactivated”, the Minister warned.

Mr. Poghisio said SIM card registration was now standard practice globally, and cited Tanzania, South Africa and Ethiopia as some of the countries in the region that had made SIM card registration mandatory. Speaking at the same event, CCK Director General Charles J.K.  Njoroge called on subscribers to cooperate in providing the required information to their respective service providers, including phone number, name, date of birth, gender, address (postal and physical), and ID number of the identification document used to register.   

Minors with SIM cards will be required to  be accompanied by an adult who will register as the owner of the card and the minor as the user.   On attaining the age of 18, the young adult will be at liberty to change the registration details of their SIM card by submitting copies of their ID cards with their respective service providers.

Mr Njoroge assured the public that the information collected during the registration exercise will reside with the respective service providers and would be treated with strict confidence. “The information collected shall only be used for the purpose for which the registration exercise is being undertaken and where necessary the information may only be availed to the authorities to the extent permitted by the law,”  added the Director-General.