“When the seven-day ultimatum was announced, we were registering over a million customers a day, but this has fallen to only 50,000 daily since the extension was announced.” Aitel Uganda’s managing director, Anwar Soussa has told journalists.
“We have only 40% of our customers fully registered. Even with the deadline extension, the 40% has remained the same with no significant change. There is only a trickle of customers that are coming in to verify their SIM cards.” He adds, noting that this raises fear that many unregistered subscribers will not meet the deadline.
In a letter addressed to the Uganda Communications Commission executive director, Mr Godfrey Mutabazi, Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda last week extended the deadline for SIM card registration and verification to May 19, 2017, from the initial deadline of April 20.
Reports coming through indicate that these changes may not add life or bring better results to the ongoing exercise, although most Uganda’s welcomed the move, saying that it was more reasonable.
“There was a rush to register SIM cards before the initial deadline was moved forward, the pressure is not so much comparable to the days running to April 20.” Tonny Achidrian, Uganda Telecom’s public relations officer told media reporters on Friday.
When announcing the extension, Dr. Rugunda said, “By close of the deadline, we shall assess progress and advise.”
Anwar Soussa says his biggest worry is that customers will be disconnected.
“If only about 4 million of our 10 million customers are fully registered, the daily 50,000 registration will not cover the 6 million gap in the next 20 days.”
MTN Uganda on the other hand, says their clients, who are about 11 million, are positively responding to the exercise.
male@ugchristiannews.com
