Mozambique abandons SIM registration scheme

The government of Mozambique has reportedly abandoned its plan to force the country’s mobile operators to register all SIM card users. Authorities have tried in vain for almost five years to ensure that all mobile subscribers have their details registered, but a number of deadlines have come and gone with few visible results. The three active cellcos, mCel, Vodacom and Movitel, are thought to have registered the details of only around half of the country’s twelve million mobile users by the end of 2014. A report from news agency APA now suggests that the Ministry of Transport and Communications is giving up on the scheme, with Minister Manuela Rebelo said to have labelled the task as ‘hopeless’.