The Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) has threatened legal action against the country's three mobile phone operators, MTN, Airtel and Zamtel, for allegedly selling already activated SIM cards.

ZICTA public relations manager Ngabo Nankonde said that the current Zambian SIM card registration law makes it a criminal offence for any mobile phone operator to sell active SIM cards.

A new subscriber in Zambia has to produce valid ID and submit information to the mobile service provider in order to purchase a SIM card.

"We carried out research on the Copperbelt and we found that operators were selling active SIM cards to the public. The law makes it criminal to sell active SIM cards. Therefore, we would like to warn operators that this action is criminal and the authority will be forced to take legal action if this continues," Nankonde said.

The latest development comes in the wake of reports at the end of 2014 of legal wrangling between the Regulator and mobile operators over the banning of promotions.

In December last year ZICTA had enforced a ban on all promotions by mobile operators based on alleged poor service quality.

In the same month MTN Zambia announced that it would take legal action against the watchdog over the ban.