With less than 3 hours after the request by Mobile telecommunication operators to have the deadline for sim card verification extended, mixed reactions have already started emerging from different people.
According to the telecommunication companies verification process has been hampered by lack of an application programming interface that can update the subscriber information in real time.
Denis Kakonge, Airtel Uganda’s Director of Legal and regulatory affairs cited a need to gain access to NIRA data so that photographs of subscribers, their names and National Identity numbers are verified instantly.
However according to the deputy government spokesperson Rtd. Col. Shaban Bantariza via his twitter handle reveals that how will Jan 2018 be different from previous deadlines, if this were granted, again?
How will Jan 2018 be different from previous deadlines, if this were granted, again?! https://t.co/GtY5NUviqx
— Shaban Bantariza (@ShabanBantariza) August 22, 2017
It should be noted that telecom operators also told Parliament that they require access to the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) Information system in order to ease verification of subscribers’ Sim Cards.
The deadline for Sim Card verification using the National Identity card was extended from May 19 to August 30 in order to allow more time for telecoms to complete the verification exercise of subscribers who had not yet applied for or received their Identification details from NIRA.
The telecom operators including MTN, Airtel, Africell, K2 among others today appeared before parliament’s committee on Information, Communication and Technology (ICT).
The committee chaired by the Tororo North MP Annet Nyakecho was directed last week by the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to asess the progress of the sim card verification exercise.
