Some sim registration agents are charging customers who wish to register their cards, the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has disclosed.
Speaking during a ZICTA workshop for the Parliamentary Committee on Information and Communication, ZICTA Deputy Director General Magarette Mudenda said it was unfortunate that some sim registration agents are making the sim registration process complicated by demanding for a fee from people registering their cards.
Ms. Mudenda has since reminded members of the public that they are not supposed to pay for the sim registration as the process is absolutely free.
A number of people in rural areas are the victims of these unscrupulous agents.
And Ms. Mudenda has assured members of the public not to worry about their phone conversations because that no mobile service provider has the capacity to monitor phone calls even after sim card registration.
She said it was important that fears of deprivation of privacy be dispelled as sim registration is only meant to create a database that will help in quality service delivery.
She further said ZICTA has deliberately not set the deadline for sim registration as it still wants to access the response from the public.
And reacting to a concerns raised by Senga Hills Member of Parliament Kapembwa Simbao who wanted to know how old people who do not have national registration cards will register their card, Ms. Mudenda said ZICTA will issue a directive to mobile phone service providers to apply the same criteria used for minors.
Meanwhile, ZICTA Head of Information and Consumer Protection Katwamba Mwansa revealed that 48 out of 52 African countries had already done sim registration by October last year.
Mr. Mwansa explained that the exercise was meant to protect members of the public by helping in tracking criminals.
And ZICTA Projects Manager Bwalya Mwango disclosed that ZICTA will soon put up 144 GSM towers in chiefdoms countrywide.
Mr. Mwango said these towers will cost KR 240 million.
He said out of a total of 288 chiefdoms in Zambia, 118 do not have GSM service.
He explained that ZICTA also hopes to transform the education sector through Information Communication Technology systems (ICTs).
Mr. Mwango said the biggest challenge ZICTA was facing in promoting ICTs was the lack of a local computer manufacturing company.
He said this makes ICT equipment expensive.
He also cited the lack of inclusion of ICT in the education curriculum as another challenge.
ZANIS
Free things usually turn up being very costly in the end. Why is parliament silent about this department and its jurisdiction, limitations and use? I need to see some sort of document or something in the constitution that makes ZICTA independent of any political influence, then I’ll be satisfied with its purpose, before then….Kaya
Interesting its so free but i have seen people who are conducting door to door sim registration. How has ZICTA raised the money to pay them??
What makes you sure these people are from ZICTA? It could be cadres and/or common thieves out for a bit of identity theft.
“no mobile service provider has the capacity to monitor phone calls even after sim card registration”
Please, Madam don’t treat us like idi;ots! It’s not MTN, Airtel, or even Zamtel people are worried about. Without legislation and systems to protect personal information, what is to stop GRZ/PF from abusing people’s private data? Some would say recent behaviour by the ruling party shows doing exactly that is the closest thing PF has to a plan! Better is to guard your privacy and personal information jealously.
But why are you handing over records to the shushushuz
If you are really worried about phone tapping by authorities, Dont worry this is the 21st Century! There are several gadgets-encryption Solutions for Secure GSM Phone designed to provide end-to-end secure communication across the GSM networks, works with any mobile having Symbian 60.2 and 60.3 operating system. Some use AES 256 bit symmetric data protection algorithm encryption algorithm, which is currently the highest security standard worldwide. Or you can also buy a spy phone attachment . You can also play spy games with ZICTA when they abuse your sim card details… Please just register. But if you Dont have the extra cash learn to use smoke signals or send drum signals.
In South Africa, we did the SIM registration two years ago. And it proved to be very very useless. I hope Zambia learns from us as we learn from her about democracy and other things.
Advice to Zambia: Scrap this useless exercise.
ladies and gentlemen, 1st b4 u critisize research wat it means, its importance n how we will benefit as a nation.its not political and its entering into yo privacy.our neighbours TZ, kenya n other countries have done it.luk at both sides of the coin
even b4 registration if u are a criminal or suspect yo line can be investigated, nothing to worry abt, no service provider will tap into a converstation wen u are chaffin yo lady or man.thts useless info to countrys security.
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