Kenyan MPs take up petition on Safaricom SIM deactivation and reassigned numbers

Parliament's Public Petitions Committee has taken up a petition challenging how Safaricom deactivates inactive SIM cards and reassigns their numbers, Capital FM reported on 3 October. Eastleigh Voice reported the petition on 2 October.

The petitioners, Thomson Kerongo and Asiago Stephen, say Safaricom deactivates SIM cards after a period of inactivity, ordinarily six months, and later gives the numbers to new subscribers. They say customers whose lines are due for deactivation are not always given adequate notice.

The petition also raises the case of subscribers who have died. The petitioners say subscribers use their mobile numbers for financial transactions, including through M-Pesa, and that when a number is deactivated after its owner's death, beneficiaries or personal representatives can find it hard to trace and recover the funds linked to the account.

Kuria East MP Kitayama Maisori advised the petitioner to engage the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) to help trace and recover funds that may have been transferred to the unclaimed assets system, Capital FM reported.

Mbeere South MP Bernard Muriuki said allocation or reallocation of communication accounts is historical and is not unique to Safaricom. He added that when a line is reallocated, the original owner should be told, according to Capital FM.

Eastleigh Voice said the petitioners are challenging Safaricom's compliance with constitutional and legal requirements on SIM card deactivation and number reassignment.

In a separate case, High Court judge Lawrence Mugambi ruled on 19 March that mobile numbers are digital identifiers linked to a person's private affairs and cannot be arbitrarily deactivated or reassigned without the owner's consent, Kenyans.co.ke reported. According to the Daily Nation, the judge found that operators cannot deactivate and recycle numbers without adequate notice, consent and safeguards.

In a March email to a subscriber who has since sued the company, Safaricom wrote: "At this time, the current Safaricom policy has not changed, nor has it been affected by the recent High Court ruling." The Daily Nation quoted the email on 30 April. The company added that it is regulated by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and not the courts, and that the CA had not issued any directive on how operators should proceed in relation to the ruling.

The CA has since published draft procedural and technical safeguards for the deactivation and recycling of inactive numbers, and invited public comment until 11 September.

The committee is expected to seek views from Safaricom, relevant government agencies, consumer representatives and other stakeholders before it prepares its report and recommendations for the House, Capital FM reported.