Your Old SIM Number Can Be Reassigned: New Kenya Rules You Should Know.

Have you been keeping an old SIM card that you have not been using for months? You may want to keep track of it.

Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) has set out new safeguards on the way inactive mobile numbers are handled prior to eventual reassignment.

SIM deactivation now backed by law, CA says

Numbers inactive for more than six months will be notified publicly before deactivation and eventual recycling of the recycled number. The notice will also include a USSD option for checking if a number is affected.

Telcos to give public notice before deactivating inactive SIM cards

A phone number is no longer used just for making calls and sending SMS. Many Kenyan phone users tie their numbers to M-PESA, online banking, social media, and email accounts.

Losing an old number can cause problems if it has been tied to a service.

The new safeguards also provide an avenue to protecting certain numbers that cannot be used by the owner for a long time due to prolonged illnesses, imprisonment or holidays, among other reasons.

The message to ordinary Kenyan phone users is not to give up a number that has been tied to important services. If a user has an old SIM card, make sure to check it out frequently and update the number of any important services that the user has tied to the phone number.