Senegalese telcos called to order over SIM registrations
Senegal's Telecoms and Postal Regulatory Authority (ARTP) has issued a new warning to telecom companies to carefully follow customer identification procedures.
Dahirou Thiam, director general of ARTP, recently raised the alarm after discovering that operators and their distributors were allegedly flagrantly violating laws requiring them to register all SIM cards at the point of sale/purchase.
This comes after the regulator conducted verification visits in Dakar, the country's capital, and other regions of the West African country.
“Operators shall identify all users of their electronic communications services at the time of subscription to the services they provide and shall keep data enabling them to be identified,” Thiam said in a statement, citing a provision of the country’s 2018 Electronic Communications Code.
Thiam stated that natural persons must be physically present at the moment of subscription with their national identity card or passport, or provide a verified power of attorney for subscribers who are not there.