RICA deadline extension progress
An amendment bill to the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act (RICA) made available today aims to extend the previous deadline for registering one’s SIM card.
RICA registration requires that consumers provide mobile operators such as Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and 8ta with proof of address and identification, whether they are on prepaid or contract.
Currently the deadline for registrations is 31 December 2010. Any Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card not registered by then has to be cut off from the operators’ networks.
Operators objected to the requirements of RICA when it was first amended as it could mean the loss of many prepaid customers. MTN recently reported that their postpaid (contract) revenues are down but that prepaid revenues are compensating for it.
One can see that the loss of prepaid revenue could be a significant blow for a mobile operator. To try and minimise this, operators even introduced measures where new SIM cards would not be activated on their networks without subscribers providing the personal information required for RICA registration.
Whilst the objections from mobile operators about the RICA requirements seemed to have no effect, an amendment bill made available in the public domain today indicates that an extension could be on the cards for consumers and operators alike.
The bill still has to make it through parliament, but Vodacom and Cell C have indicated cautious optimism about the development.
“We are encouraged by today’s developments and really appreciate the constructive engagement that we’ve had on extending the RICA deadline,” said Portia Maurice, chief officer of corporate affairs at Vodacom.
“Vodacom has put huge effort into educating our customers on the RICA process, encouraging them to register and making sure that the registration process as convenient as possible – and we’ll continue to do everything we can to ensure that customers are not cut off.”
Cell C said that they are pleased that the Bill containing an extension of the deadline for registering customers under the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communications-Related Information Act (RICA) has been tabled.
“We believe that if the Bill is passed, the new proposed deadline will allow us to facilitate the registration of close to 100% of ourcustomer base,” said Graham Mackinnon, Cell C’s group general counsel.
“Since the implementation of RICA we have worked incredibly hard to have all our customers properly registered but it has been an enormous and challenging task. We are confident that if an extension to the deadline is granted we will be well placed to meet the new proposed deadline.”
According to a representative at the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development, the committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss the amendment bill.
MTN and Cell C did not comment by the time of publication.
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