Recycling of dormant lines to take six months under proposed CA law

Nairobi, Kenya - Telecommunication companies like Safaricom and Airtel will face a six-month delay before they can recycle dormant lines, as per a proposed law. The draft procedures and technical safeguards for deactivation and recycling of inactive telecommunication numbering resources stipulate that a number can be placed for deactivation and recycling after being inactive for three months.

If a service provider detects the absence of revenue-generating activity for this period, they must notify the number's owner using details collected during the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. This notification can be via SMS or other contact methods linked to the subscriber. The notification process continues for another three months unless the owner starts generating revenue.

Thirty days before the expiry of the three-month clause and with the number still inactive, the provider must publish a list of numbers that could be subject to deactivation and recycling. The provider will share this information via its website, publicize it through various media, and publish it in a nationwide-circulating daily newspaper on a quarterly basis.

Currently, telcos can recycle inactive lines after three months, which has raised concerns about the sharing of personal data from previous owners. Once the notice period ends and the number remains inactive, the service provider must unlink and securely archive any personal data, cached data, and services linked to the previous owner, making this information inaccessible to new subscribers, while still retaining records required by law.