Kenya's Communications Authority proposes extending the dormant SIM card recycling period to six months to protect subscriber data privacy.
TL;DR
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) drafted new rules requiring mobile operators like Safaricom and Airtel to wait six months before recycling inactive numbers.
Prior to recycling, operators must securely archive and completely de-link the previous owner's personal and cached data to prevent the new subscriber from inheriting it.
Intelligence
Telcos will flag a number after three months of inactivity and must spend the remaining three months attempting to notify the owner using KYC contact details.
In Kenya, SIM cards are heavily linked to mobile money accounts (M-Pesa, Airtel Money) and digital banking apps.
The current three-month recycling rule has frequently led to situations where new owners of recycled numbers gain access to previous owners' bank notifications or digital credit accounts (like Tala or Branch).
By lengthening this timeline to six months and mandating strict data scrubbing, the CA is addressing a major vector for identity theft and financial fraud in the local ecosystem.
3 companies and people in this story have tracked profiles.
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