SIM registration grew to 65.5 million in three months to September
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Active mobile subscriptions (SIM Cards) grew to 65.5 million in three months to September, 2022 from 64.7 million recorded in the previous quarter representing a growth of 1.2 percent – representing a mobile (SIM) penetration level of 132.5 percent.
The growth was a result of a directive by the industry regulator which directed all mobile operators to ensure 100 percent compliance in the SIM-registration exercise. Safaricom PLC, Airtel Kenya, and Telkom Kenya will have until mid-January to validate their data cleanup drive.
The switching off of such SIMs is aimed at curbing crime cases believed to be perpetrated by anonymous mobile phone subscribers – who target unsuspecting users.
Previous attempts have seen telecom firms switch off hundreds of thousands of such SIMs that are not properly registered. CA believes that a growing number of mobile users are obtaining new SIMs but are not presenting them for proper record keeping.
The report also shows that a total of 278,030,354 accounts were breached in three months to September 2022, a staggering 199 percent increase from 92,838,258 cyber threats detected in the previous quarter.
The first quarter sector statistics report for the financial year 2022/2023 by the Communications Authority (CA) which runs from 1st July to 30th September 2022, further shows that common security threats sprang from electronic payments through credit and debit card frauds.
Password compromises and insider threats are considered the biggest cyber threats, with just over half of the businesses in Kenya today operating under .co.ke domains having experienced cybersecurity breaches during the period under review.
The CA report puts that figure at 98,662 during the quarter under review compared to 97,596 in the last quarter, a 1.1 percent rise.
Cyber security continues to evolve rapidly as more citizens enter the digital realm. What’s worse, local businesses could continue to face losses running into hundreds of millions of shillings in cyber-related crimes with local underwriters unable to offer cyber insurance covers for business protection.
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