Mozambique’s Communications Regulatory Authority (Autoridade Reguladora das Comunicacoes, ARECOM, also known as INCM) has given the country’s three cellcos ten days to ensure that they are fully compliant with SIMregistration guidelines. SIM registration has been compulsory in Mozambique since 2015, but authorities are now concerned that operators are not adhering to the regulations.
According to a report from AllAfrica, the regulator’s spokesperson Edmundo Manhica told television station STV: ‘Recently ARECOM has been receiving denunciations of the existence of unregistered SIM cards, or cards with irregular registration.’ He added that unregistered SIM cards can assist SIM box fraud, where international calls are routed via a VoIP gateway to disguise them as local traffic to avoid higher international call charges.
TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that Mozambique is home to three mobile network operators – Vodacom, Mocambique Telecom (TMCEL) and Movitel – which between them served around 16.1 million active users at the end of March 2019.