back to article South Africa mulls reining in roaming

The South African justice committee is considering making foreign travellers register their name, passport number, and address with a local provider before being allowed to use the local GSM services. The requirement is part of the "Regulation of Interception of Communication Amendment Bill". The bill also requires anyone …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Black Market?

    Guaranteed a HUGE black market for phones with local SIMs will appear as soon as this legislation is passed (most of them nicked from local punters, no doubt).. :-(

  2. Donald Massyn

    ..and you'll be pleased to know the civil servants are all on strike..

    .. so it won't be a long wait, just a few hours and you'll be done

  3. Dillon Pyron

    Meanwhile, in the US ...

    ... I can buy a prepaid with cash at my local Stop-n-Rob. I can get a prepaid European SIM mailed to a PO Box using a prepaid debit card (which I used cash to buy). Texas had a measure in the legislature that would have required ID, SSN and a thumb print, but it died in committee.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Brilliant...

    Viva Afrika, viva, viva! Not! One more reason to thank God for leaving that country when I did.

  5. Cathryn

    Sim, not phone

    Us locals will have to register when buying a sim, not just a phone. Contract or prepaid, doesn't matter - you have to register. Not registering any sims you may have lying around and forgotten about will not only result in them being disconnected, but you could be liable for a jail sentence as well.

    All in the hopes of fighting terrorists and criminals, who of course aren't clever enough to think of giving a fake name and address.

  6. Dave Coventry

    Tricky

    Currently you can buy a pre-pay sim for under 5 Rand (about 30p), so all you need to do is hold a gun to a tourist's head and you're in business.

    Still, like most legislative action of this kind, it will not hinder the criminals, merely inconvenience the law abiding citizen.

    The bulk of South Africans have no way of proving their address and the identity document system here is a shambles with duplicate numbers common and the issuing of such documents routinely taking several years to process.

    But, yes, as TFA states, a great way for the telkom companies to make money....

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