South Sudan’s Ministry of Telecommunications has pushed the deadline for the registration of SIM cards until February 28 after a limited number of people had come out to register.
The move is aimed at ensuring continued service for users and reinforcing the importance of SIM card registration.
Deputy Minister for Telecommunications Beatrice Khamisa said “they all agreed to extend the SIM card registration and urged all subscribers, South Sudanese and non-South Sudanese, to register.”
Mobile phone users orginally had until the end of last year to register their SIM cards, but that was pushed back by one month to 31 January after low compliance with the government-mandated registration.
Khamisa said “some government ministries were adamant that the deadline not be pushed back a second time.”
But the ministry pushed for another extension, saying that mobile phones “are the only connection to the outside world for many South Sudanese, especially those who live in remote areas.”
He said that the ministry will work closely with the country’s operators in order to publicize the campaign and get users to the appropriate places to register.
Mohammed Awad
