Mobile operator Telecel has urged its subscribers in Zimbabwe with unregistered SIM cards to have them registered by Friday this week or risk being disconnected.

All mobile phone users in Zimbabwe have to register with their network for each SIM card they own before 31 August. This requirement is as per a Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) SIM card deadline.

Failure to register a SIM card is planned to result in a subscriber’s number or numbers being disconnected by operators.

The registration drive is intended to protect the public from criminals using unregistered SIM cards, says Telecel in a statement.

“Most of our customers are already fully registered but those who are not need to register before Saturday August 31 to ensure they are not inconvenienced by being disconnected,” said Telecel Zimbabwe communications and branding director Obert Mandimika.

“While Telecel does not wish to inconvenience any subscribers, it will have to disconnect those who remain unregistered after August 31 in order to comply with Potraz requirements,” said Mandimika.

Mandimika adds that Telecel is putting measures in place to make the registration process ‘easier’ for its subscribers.

Telecel subscribers whose SIM cards are unregistered can have them registered at any Telecel office countrywide or with Telecel registered dealers, according to the company

Subscribers also need to produce an original and a copy of their national identity card and fill in a registration form.

Telecel is Zimbabwe’s second largest mobile operator with an estimated two million subscribers, according to Potraz.

Earlier this month, the operator’s licence in Zimbabwe was under threat owing to the company not complying with Zimbabwe’s indigenisation policy, which requires foreign firms to surrender their majority ownership to local Zimbabweans.

Telecel Zimbabwe is majority owned by Telecel Global, which in turn is owned by Russia’s Vimpelcom.

But Telecel Zimbabwe earlier this month agreed to change its ownership structure and Potraz renewed the telecom firm’s licence at a cost of $137.5 million.