MACRA urges the public to participate in SIM card registration exercise between July and September 2025 to curb online fraud

* The regulations will help law enforcers track criminals, enhance accuracy and improve service delivery of telecommunication companies — among other benefits

* It is paramount that the process is in line with the Communications Act as the process requires that individuals must be honest with the information they provide and keep their personal information security by not sharing with others

By Augustus Nkhwazi, MANA

SIM card registration exercise, that is aimed at curbing online fraud, is set to roll out between July and September 2025 and Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) urges the public to positively participate in the exercise.

At a consultative meeting yesterday with stakeholders in Mzuzu, MACRA’s Director of Legal & Consumer Protection, Kelious Mlenga emphasised that SIM card registration will help track culprits behind online frauds in Malawi, which is worryingly rampant.

Mlenga enlightened the stakeholders that currently, the digital landscape in Malawi is saturated with fraudulent individuals, who are duping innocent Malawians of their financial resources without being traced — hence formulation of regulations for SIM registration to address the problem.

He said the new sim registration regulations will help law enforcers track criminals, enhance accuracy and improve service delivery of telecommunication companies — among other benefits.

“It is paramount that the process is in line with the Communications Act,” he said. “This process requires that individuals must be honest with the information they provide and keep their personal information security by not sharing with others.”

Mlenga further said the new regulations have put limitations on the number of sim cards an individual up to 10 SIM cards and up to 30 for companies.

“These regulations have outlined offences and penalties such as fines of up to K50,000 on a daily basis for individuals and K150,000 per day for companies,” he said, adding that these are meant to deter criminal conducts.

On matters of security, Mlenga said the regulations have put in place a biometric registration procedure which will help trace those perpetrating the crimes who mostly use other people’s identity cards to register their SIM cards.

Mayor for Mzuzu City, Kondwani Brian Nyasulu supports the move taken by MACRA, saying it will help bring sanity and protect people from falling victims to online fraud, saying: “If we join hands and work together, it is possible to have a safer digital landscape in Malawi.”

Participants to the meeting included religious and traditional leaders; civil society organisations; social media influencers; university students; the police; Malawi Defence Force; Immigration; councillors and the media, among others.