A ban on airtime and data bundle advances for individuals under the age of 18 will take effect in Lesotho on 1 April 2026.
The move is designed to promote financial responsibility and protect young mobile phone users from debt-related risks, said Advocate Thato Poonya, chief compliance and legal officer of the Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA).
Such services expose children to loan-like obligations for which they are not legally eligible, noted Poonya.
Implemented in partnership with the country's two major mobile network operators, Vodacom Lesotho and Econet Telecom Lesotho, the initiative will leverage enhanced SIM card registration systems.
These systems verify a user’s age against national identification documents to ensure compliance.
The new regulations align with the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act and broader financial guidelines governing lending practices.
While new advances will be prohibited for minors, all existing outstanding balances must be settled, clarifies the LCA.
Discontinuing the service does not cancel existing debt, said Mapuseletso Ntsékhe of Vodacom Lesotho and Nhlapo Ketja of Econet Telecom Lesotho.
Parents and guardians are being urged to assist minors in clearing these remaining debts promptly to avoid service disruptions.
The crackdown follows a series of consumer protection investigations conducted by the LCA in late 2025 into unfair market practices.
These probes found Vodacom Lesotho in breach of consumer laws after the operator restricted airtime usage for Top-Up Flexi customers without providing the legally required 21-day notice.
In that ruling, the regulator found that the failure to communicate contract changes constituted an unfair market practice and non-compliance with the 2022 Consumer Protection Guidelines and 2016 Administrative Rules.
The use of national IDs for verification is critical to the success of this new policy, which aims to protect minors from financial burden and ensure a safer digital environment, the LCA stated.
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