I cant imagine MTN having lower quality service. That's like them stopping their voice operations all together.
Kyle has a point, this seems to have benefits only for Telecom companies and non for the consumers. Some have brought up security but i know for a fact that when the police find the person using your phone(via IMEI) they then obtain a court order to call and/or find that person from cell tower data provided by the relevant Telecom company. There is therefore no strong security related benefit for consumers. This act is a worrying trend in Uganda where consumer interests are often trampled by profit driven corporate interests. The strikes that have been going on lately are evidence of that. Uganda needs a strong body to fight for consumer interests and raise the sort of opposition that US lawmakers have as a result of SOPA. Even if this move has no evil motive behind it, the people need to know WHY On Wednesday, January 18, 2012, Kyle Spencer wrote: > > In the US all carriers are > > required to take the details of someone before > > they buy a sim pack. > > I was recently given two pre-paid voice/data SIMs (on two separate > occasions) without being asked to provide any ID. All they asked for was a > name and 4 digit PIN. Cash was a payment option. No address, social > security number, etc was required. > > > In China and Japan you have to present a > > passport or national ID to buy a sim pack. > > I lived in China, though it was a number of years ago. I never had to > provide ID to buy SIMs. Things could be different now, though :) > > > The EU is in the process of making it mandatory > > for all its members to register sims. > > A bill has been passed to Senate in the US > > requiring sim registration. > > Citation needed! Can you provide more details on this legislation? If > there's a law on the books in the US, it's not strictly followed. > > Anyway, all of that is beside the main point. I still argue that this > legislation is a mostly ineffective security measure, has negative economic > consequences, and is prone to abuse. > > And, though it won't benefit consumers, it will benefit the telecoms as it > should significantly reduce the "churn" rate (the industry term for users > frequently changing providers) by creating barriers to entry. You're far > less likely to change networks frequently if you need to manually sign up > and suffer a delay period every time you switch. > > As a result, companies like MTN will now be able to provide lower quality > of service with fewer consequences as customers will be less inclined to > make the effort to switch to another network. > > I believe Uganda's high churn rates indicate a healthy consumer-oriented > marketplace. Why throw this away and give more leverage to the telecoms? > > > ----- Original message ----- > > @kyle, @benjamin, and if you can in USA and China and Sweden, I bet those > > guys already have some fancy mechanism to track down any phone user > even > > if they haven't registered their SIMs. In the US all carriers are > > required to take the details of someone before they buy a sim pack. In > > China and Japan you have to present a passport or national ID to buy a > > sim pack. The EU is in the process of making it mandatory for all its > > members to register sims. > > A bill has been passed to Senate in the US requiring sim registration. > > Whether or not it goes through is another issue. > > I think the UCC/gov't has some valid concerns to do what they are doing. > > Playing the devil's advocate, having national IDs should have been the > > first priority for gov't if it has security concerns, then maybe > > registration would not be requirement. > > > > On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 10:04 PM, Kyle Spencer <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > > If you go many > > > > countries, you just can't walk into a shop and buy a sim card like > > > > we > > > do it > > > > in UG. > > > > > > You can in the USA! > > > > > > > > > On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 10:28 AM, Bright Onapito <[email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > > Hello Ronnie, > > > > I feel your pain, but I must say this process is long over due! It > > > > is a mandatory procedure for every teleco to register all its > > > > subscribers. UCC was abit lenient to all these guys in the first > > > > place. If you go many countries, you just can't walk into a shop > > > > and buy a sim card like we > > > do it > > > > in UG. In as much as it might appear as a 'breech of privacy' I > > > > believe > > > it > > > > is a move aimed at protecting you and me. Imagine your phone was > > > > stolen > > > and > > > > sold to whoever. As soon as they put in their sim card it will be > > > > quite > > > easy > > > > to for starters know who is using your stolen phone. That's a plus > > > > for starters isn't it? > > > > Cheers! > > > > > > > > On Sun, Jan 15, 2012 at 8:00 PM, Delyon Ronnie > > > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > Recently read in the papers about UCC requiring every holder of a > > > > > sim > > > card > > > > > to register it or face termination of service. > > > > > > > > > > What does this achieve and isn’t this some infringement of privacy. > > > People > > > > > should I think have the option of opting out given I don’t(yet) > > > > > see any benefits of doing it to begin with > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug > > > > > > > > > > Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: > > > > > [email protected] > > > > > Mailing list archives: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > > > > Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug > > > > > To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug > > > > > > > > > > The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: > > > > > http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > > > > > > > > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them > > > > > (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not > > > > > responsible for them > > > in > > > > > any way. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > *Bright Onapito* > > Onabright Holdings Limited > > +256 792 782629 > > www.onabright.com > > > > *I purpose to be part of the solution and not the problem * > > _______________________________________________ > The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug > > Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: > [email protected] <javascript:;> > Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug > To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug > > The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: > http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including > attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in > any way. -- Delyon Ronnie http://about.me/delyonr
_______________________________________________ The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way.
