Kenya proposes DNA collection for SIM registration
On Techpoint Digest, we discuss how Kenya's SIM card rules may require your DNA, Nigeria's new payment infrastructure, and South Africa's Post Office's desire to become an MVNO.
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Victoria from Techpoint here,
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Kenya’s SIM-card rules may require your DNA
Inside Nigeria’s new payment backbone
South Africa’s Post Office wants to become an MVNO
Kenya’s SIM-card rules may require your DNA
Source: theexchange.africa
Kenya’s telecom regulator is stirring up a storm: the Communications Authority (CA) is proposing SIM-card registration rules so intrusive they’d require DNA, blood type, retinal scans, and even earlobe geometry. Under its draft 2025 regulations, telcos would have to collect this highly intimate biological data from anyone registering a new SIM.
However, reports show that critics are aghast. This goes far beyond name, ID number, or date of birth. It dives deep into the body’s most personal traits. Tech analysts warn that collecting such sensitive data creates serious privacy and security risks, especially given that many telecom companies may lack the capacity to store and protect it.
What’s more worrying is that telcos wouldn’t just collect and forget. They’d have to build detailed biometric databases and hand over subscriber records to the CA every quarter, giving the regulator ongoing access to identity data. Legal experts argue this effectively outsources national identity management to private firms, and that’s a dangerous power shift.
This kind of biometric SIM registration isn’t entirely new in Africa. Rwanda is already piloting a system that links SIMs to national ID biometrics — fingerprints and face scans — verified against its national database. And Mozambique is rolling out a law requiring face and fingerprint biometrics for SIMs. But Kenya’s proposal is on another level, demanding DNA and other ultra-sensitive physiological markers.
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At its core, the debate is about more than compliance; it’s about trust. Kenya’s Data Protection Act says organisations should only collect what’s strictly necessary. But thi...
