Liberia introduced fresh SIM and RUIM registration regulations in a bid to improve national security and pave the way for new services such as mobile money.
CommsUpdate reported the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) partnered with the National Identification Registry agency in establishing the new measures.
The country’s operators Lonestar Cell-MTN and Orange Liberia complied and signed a memorandum of understanding on the new regulations.
The regulations will make it easier for subscribers to replace SIM cards in the event of loss and minimise opportunities for fraud such as grey routing calls.
It is also hoped by improving security the sector can establish a platform for e-communications services such as mobile money transfer and other such services, and ensure the creation of a reliable subscribers database subscribers by operators.
A testing phase for the regulations will begin this month and end in January. The three-month testing phase will be evaluated in February and full implementation to begin in March.
Edwina Zackpah, LTA acting chairperson said: ‘We all know that there are a lot of crimes that are committed using the telephone, and one of the first places that the police will go when investigating a crime is the cellphone; what were the last sets of numbers you called and who is associated with those numbers? You may never know who committed such a crime if the SIM card they are investigating is not properly registered. So, this is a significant milestone for the country.’
