The Kenyan government is putting together new regulations for mobile operators, which will see street vendors restricted from selling cards and telcos who continue to sell pre-activated SIM cards or allow street sales will have their licence revoked and face criminal charges.

The announcement was made yesterday by cabinet secretary for Information Communication Technology Fred Matiang’i, and is a beefing up on the government’s crackdown on unregistered SIM usage in the wake of the Westgate attack.

A second motive is that the SIM card is evolving into an ID token in mobile mad Kenya. As of next year, citizens will be able to access their tax information via USSD or SMS.

According to the Star, the process of buying a SIM card in Kenya already takes an hour. The newspaper is predicting that it will take longer once new regulations come in to force.

Matiagn’i also said that new regulations will require SIM buyers to register their ID number, next of kin and occupation in addition to details already requested.

Curiously, Matiagn’i added that “”If you have travelled around the world, where would you buy a SIM card from a hawker on the street where we have no one verifying your details? that’s why we have the menace of mobile phones being misused back and forth.”

That’s possibly true, but in many airports in Europe you can buy SIM cards from vending machines, thus avoiding the prospect of having a hawker recall your identity at a later date too.

(Via HumanIPO)