Pre-RICAed SIM cards: how big a problem is it?
After many years of debate and deadline extensions, the RICA cut-off date finally arrived on 1 July 2011, resulting in over one million SIM cards being disconnected from their respective mobile network operators.
However, a number of media reports yesterday (5 July 2011) said that “pre-RICAed” SIM cards are readily available from traders in the area around Pretoria, specifically mentioning Arcadia and Sunnyside.
The Regulation for the Interception of Communications and Provision of Communications-related Information Act, known as simply RICA, requires that SIM cards used on South African mobile networks be registered with the respective operators, along with proof of identity and address, before the SIM may be connected to a network.
Fraudulently RICAed SIM cards allow users to bypass this requirement. The Department of Communications (DoC) spoke out against this activity, saying that it was in contravention of RICA.
Pre-RICAed SIMs are old news
Although the story became widespread when it hit the newspapers yesterday, the RICAing of SIM cards without proper documentation has been going on for some time.
Users have reported RICA agents registering SIMs outside government offices, such as traffic departments and licensing centres, without proper proof of address.
Just under a year ago it was also reported that SIMs were being RICAed in the heart of Johannesburg, without proper documentation.
Questioned about why the matter was not addressed sooner, deputy minister of the Department of Communications (DoC), Obed Bapela, said that they are awaiting an official report from mobile operators before they can pass comment on the issue.
According to Bapela, the DoC expects to be able to address the extent of the issue of fraudulently RICAed SIMs in two weeks’ time.
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