Remote SIM card registration going smoothly – councillors

By MARX ITAMALO

THE registration of SIM cards currently being rolled out in remote areas in the country’s northern regions is going smoothly.

This is according to some regional councillors who spoke to Confidente this week. The country’s largest mobile telecommunications outfitter (MTC) initiated the initiative to go to remote areas to register sim card owners after the government extended the registration for three months from January 1, 2024, to the last day of March 2024.

Initially, the deadline for registering sim cards was set on December 31, 2023, whereby all unregistered sim cards would be disconnected after that date.

However, the government backtracked and extended the deadline due to pressure from various quarters, including the Swapo party, to extend the deadline to give all SIM card owners enough time to register. According to Joseph Mupetami, the regional councillor for Okatyali constituency in Oshana, the registration process started last week in his constituency, whereby MTC mobile teams are registering sim cards at different identified points.

“The team is in the constituency. We have informed our people, and the response has been great.

People are happy that their time and money has been saved as they will no longer spend money on transport and food as it has been the case before,” he said.

Mupetami indicated he had received complaints from some of the residents in Okatyali that they had visited MTC mobile homes but had, on numerous occasions, returned home unassisted due to the large number of people at those stations.

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