16 May 2019

Tanzania’s National Identification Authority (NIDA) said it was ready to facilitate biometric registration of mobile telephone numbers which officially started May 1st, 2019.

The watchdog said in a statement that the authority would implement the biometric registration of telephone lines across the country in collaboration with the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) and telecommunication operators.

Registration of sim cards using the new technology will require mobile phone owners to have NIDA IDs or a NIDA registration number.

The authorities arrived at the decision to re-register sims after a successful pilot project to register the cards using the technology, which was conducted last year by TCRA in Zanzibar, Dodoma, Dar es Salaam, Singida, Tanga, Iringa and coastal regions.

NIDA said it had so far registered 88 per cent of eligible Tanzanians who qualify for the national IDs, while the remaining 12 per cent would be identified and registered in an ongoing  mass registration across the country.

According to TCRA statistics, subscriptions to mobile networks reached a record high of 41,708,218 in June 2018.