NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 2 – Telecommunication companies such as Safaricom and Airtel will be required to wait for up to six months before recycling dormant lines under a proposed law.
Under the draft procedures and technical safeguards for deactivation and recycling of inactive telecommunication numbering resources, telcos will be able to place a number for deactivation and recycling when it records no revenue-generating activity for a period of three months.
“Upon detection of inactivity for the stated period, the service provider shall make efforts to notify the owner of the affected number using the contact details collected during the number registration know your customer (KYC) process,” the draft CA safeguard reads.
“The means of notification may include SMS to the number and other contact information associated with the subscriber as collected during the KYC process.”
The safeguard adds that the notification process for an inactive number will continue for an additional three months unless the owner initiates a revenue-generating activity.
“Thirty (30) days before the lapse of the three (3) months in clause 4.4, and with the number still inactive, the service provider shall publish the list of numbers susceptible to deactivation and recycling if they are not activated within 30 days from the date of publication,” it states.
“The generic notice of intention to deactivate and recycle inactive numbers shall be posted on the provider’s website, publicized in other media, and published in the daily newspaper with nationwide circulation on a quarterly basis.”
Currently, telcos are allowed to recycle inactive lines after three months, raising concerns over the sharing of personal data belonging to previous owners.
“Upon the lapse of the notice period and with the number still inactive, the service provider shall de-link and securely archive the personal data, cached data, and services associated with the previous owner such that they are not accessible to or inherited by any new subscriber, while retaining records required by law.”
