The Director-General, Communication Authority, Ezra Chiloba has urged Kenyan mobile subscribers who are yet to register their SIM cards with to ensure they do with their respective providers before the April 15, 2022 deadline.

Chiloba spoke on Friday when he said there will be no extension of time for the exercise and all those who will not have registered by then stand to have their lines disconnected.

He noted that the registration has been ongoing since January and Kenyans had all the time to comply with the new requirement therefore there is no excuse.

"As usual, what happens in this country is that people are very active towards the deadline but the campaigns for registration started in January and they were being led by the telcos themselves," Chiloba said.

Chiloba said the authority has been working with operators for the past two years by issuing directives to ensure subscribers are appropriately registered for the continued enjoyment of services.

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According to the authority, it followed up on the directive with the providers and issued the April 15, 2022 deadline to update their subscriber databases.

Chiloba also mentioned that the rate of compliance with the authority’s directive is low and emphasised anyone who fails to comply by the specified deadline will have their SIM cards deactivated.

"If you don't do that the telcos are going to switch you off. Looking at the situation across the country, the compliance rate is not good at all which means the risks are even much higher," Chiloba emphasised.

He also noted that there are over 65 million SIM cards operating in the country which is more than the county’s population and insisted that each subscriber must be registered. 

However, Chiloba said the authority is aware there are some individuals with more than one SIM card.

"We must ensure that each and every subscriber is registered. We got about 65 million SIM cards out there in operation yet the population of Kenya is not 50 million. This means each and every person in this country including the newborn has a number attached to them. But we know some of us have more than one SIM card. Some registered and others not," Chiloba said.

A section of the public has raised concern with part of the registration process that requires a picture of the subscriber to be taken.

Chiloba wondered why it was easier for such individuals to share take their photos and share them across social media with ease.

The directive has elicited mixed reactions from Kenyans with some taking to social media platforms to express their grievances.

A petition was also filed in court seeking to stop the ongoing SIM card registration exercise.