(Ecofin agency) - Since 2017, active telecom operators in Congo are struggling to respect the commitments made in front of the ARPCE.The identity of a large part of the mobile telephony subscribers remains unreliable.The regulator threatens to rage if the situation continues.

The Congo Post and Electronic Post Regulatory Agency (ARPCE) challenged the two MTN and Airtel mobile telephony operators, Monday, July 26, on various breaches of the regulations relating to the identification of telecom subscribers.These include the continuation of the sale of SIM cards pre-identified by resellers, the detention by a single subscriber of more than 6 SIM cards.MTN and Airtel are threatened with sanctions if they do not correct these shortcomings in the month following.

"The observation is alarming because on the surveys carried out in Brazzaville which has the highest well -made identification rate, it appears that 70% of SIM cards are well identified and 30% have unfortunately a bad identity.The big surprise is on the side of Pointe-Noire and Dolisie where on 100% of the SIM cards purchased, none has been the subject of identification, "deplored Louis-Marc Sakala, the director general of the ARPCE, whomet the managers of the two telecoms companies.

In terms of the number of SIM cards to hold by a subscriber, the pattern of the telecom regulator also recalled "that beyond the 6th SIM the customer must be summoned.In the event of a non -response, the operator has the right to cut all numbers ".He also pointed out that "all SIM cards that have more than 90 days without activity must be automatically deactivated as the law requests".

The formal notice served in MTN and Airtel by the regulator is the fruit of the conclusions of his investigation carried out from May 18 to June 30, 2021 in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, Dolisie and Ouesso.A survey that reveals that telecom operators do not comply with their commitments made at the meeting of October 19, 2017 with the ARPCE in order to clean up the telecom sector.Among other things, they were committed to identifying all their fixed and mobile points of sale, raising awareness among their distributors approved on the issue linked to this sanitation, to limit the maximum number of SIM of each individual to five.

For the arpce, the consequences linked to poor identification are becoming more and more complex.Several poorly identified and unidentified SIM cards are found more and more involved in reprehensible activities, including scams by Mobile Money.

Muriel Edjo

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