ACT CEO Nomvuyiso Batyi South Africa’s biggest mobile operators, through their industry body, will not back Icasa’s proposed biometric Sim checks and five-number cap in their current form, warning that the draft rules overlap with Rica, the existing Sim registration law, and could disrupt the industry’s own clean-up of the Sim market. The Association of…
Anyone activating a Sim card, swapping one or keeping an existing mobile number would have their fingerprint or face checked against home affairs records under draft regulations published by communications regulator Icasa this week. The proposed amendments to the numbering plan regulations, published for comment in the Government Gazette on Wednesday, require an operator, “on…
Mobile operators will have to give subscribers clear warning — and at least two reminders — before deactivating a dormant number under new rules published by communications regulator Icasa. The numbering plan (fourth amendment) regulations, gazetted on 1 July, create a standardised, sector-wide framework for how operators deactivate and recycle mobile numbers that have fallen…
Operators propose immediate safeguards and long-term RICA amendments to close gaps exploited by fraudsters using improperly registered SIM cards. (Image by Nicola Mawson) South Africa’s telecommunications industry is proposing a new framework aimed at strengthening SIM card registration requirements. It also recommends amendments to the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information…
South Africa’s mobile operators have agreed on a framework to strengthen Sim-card registration and submitted proposals to government for legislative reform of Rica, in a coordinated push to curb the fraudulent Sim registrations that underpin a range of other crimes. The Association of Comms & Technology (ACT), which represents Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Cell C, Rain…
Telecoms industry executive Farhad Khan. In a country grappling with soaring crime rates, justice minister Mmamoloko Kubayi recently held a pivotal meeting about fighting crime that has not received the kind of public attention it deserves. This gathering, which included police officials, the minister of Home Affairs, and senior telecoms industry players, highlighted the correlation…
Weak SIM registration processes continue to enable fraud. (Graphic: Nicola Mawson, with images from ITWeb, Pexels and Freepik) Amid growing calls for biometric registration of SIM cards, global bodies warn that such a move could exclude vulnerable citizens and create underground markets for fraudulently registered SIM cards. Mobile industry veteran Johan van Graan is calling…
A Sim card is, effectively, a portable identity token. Once compromised, it gives attackers a backdoor into bank accounts, digital wallets, investment apps and high-risk transactional environments. Sim-swap fraud, identity impersonation and large-scale Sim-farm operations are no longer fringe problems; they are industrialised criminal enterprises. The Communications Risk Information Centre 2025 Telecommunications Sector Report found…
SIM cards purchased by ITWeb that had already been illegally registered with networks. (Image by Nicola Mawson) Even as South Africa gears up to be delisted from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, a major issue persists because of the availability of illegally registered SIM cards that are used in various crimes, including…
Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala. Luc Gnago/Reuters Standard Bank Group said on Thursday that its CEO, Sim Tshabalala, would retire towards the end of 2027 in line with its leadership succession planning. The announcement comes after the bank reviewed its retirement age for executives and decided to increase the normal age from 60 to…
