{"id":38361,"date":"2023-02-01T18:20:49","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T18:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics"},"modified":"2023-02-01T19:09:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T19:09:10","slug":"mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics","title":{"rendered":"MTC to cut services for failure to provide biometrics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>The country\u2019s biggest telecommunications company, MTC, yesterday clarified that gathering customers\u2019 biometric information during SIM card registration should not cause concern.<\/p>\n

According to the company, it has gone the extra mile to ensure data security and pledged it would never use the gathered information for any other purpose than curbing cybercrime.<\/p>\n

The mobile telecommunications company has been scanning customers\u2019 fingerprints and taking face photos during the mandatory SIM registration process.<\/p>\n

However, some community members feel a certified copy of either an ID or passport should suffice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe information that we obtain from customers will always be handled with the utmost privacy that it deserves. We are not sharing any customer information with a third party or institution unless that customer consents,\u201d pledged MTC\u2019s Tim Ekandjo yesterday.<\/p>\n

He added that various countries have already implemented biometrics as part of SIM registration, including Ghana, Lesotho, Tanzania and now SA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all realising that simply having the customers\u2019 ID and address is not enough. With biometrics, we have now safeguarded your identity digitally and nobody will be able to replicate it. That is why we are doing it \u2013 not for any other things,\u201d detailed Ekandjo.<\/p>\n

He added that MTC has made biometric data a condition of service and that if, for whatever reason, a subscriber does not want to have their pictures or fingerprints taken, their services will be indefinitely suspended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you decide not to go through the entire SIM Verifi system, you will, unfortunately, by deadline day, not be able to do business with us,\u201d said Ekandjo.<\/p>\n

Customers using false identity documents have defrauded MTC in the past.<\/p>\n

Ekandjo said since the implementation of the Verifi system, the company has reduced fraudulent activities by 80%.<\/p>\n

Verifi, therefore, covers the basic SIM registration requirements and goes further to obtain biometric data from customers.<\/p>\n

Ekandjo said the most common crimes include online scams (phishing), digital extortion, business email compromise, ransomware (malware designed to deny user access to company documents) and botnets (compromised machines used to automate large-scale campaigns).<\/p>\n

Ekandjo added: \u201cWe have been in this business for 27 years, and we have never had any instance of a leak of a customer\u2019s confidential information. We are operating this in terms of the draft Namibia Data Protection Bill, which adheres to the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mandatory SIM registration is in preparation for protecting digital identities from cybercrime.<\/p>\n

This exercise also aims to ensure effective regulation of a technological landscape that significantly benefits society, the economy and Namibia\u2019s governance.<\/p>\n

To date, MTC has registered 969 235 of the 2.7 million subscribers. The team said they are aggressively working towards registering the remaining customers before the year ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing illegal about this. There is nothing in the law that prohibits this from happening. What the regulator was saying is that SIM registration does not require biometrics. We have just gone a bit further to protect you and us,\u201d said MTC\u2019s legal, compliance and risk officer Patience Kanalelo.<\/p>\n

She explained that facial recognition and thumbprints are an extension of an already-known process but argued all this information is the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe (MTC) have been gathering your IDs. Banks also have them, so this is not private anymore. When travelling, home affairs has your biometrics. This is stored in a secured cloud. The laws do protect you that these cannot be shared unless you agreed to them. It\u2019s not new for us to store your personal information. We have been doing it for 27 years,\u201d said Kanalelo.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. The country\u2019s biggest telecommunications company, MTC, yesterday clarified that gathering customers\u2019 biometric information during SIM card registration should not cause concern. According to the company, it has gone the extra mile to ensure data security and pledged it would never use the gathered information for any other purpose than curbing cybercrime. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":38360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-38361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nMTC to cut services for failure to provide biometrics - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The country\u2019s biggest telecommunications company, MTC, yesterday clarified that gathering customers\u2019 biometric informati ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MTC to cut services for failure to provide biometrics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The country\u2019s biggest telecommunications company, MTC, yesterday clarified that gathering customers\u2019 biometric informati ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-01T18:20:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-01T19:09:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675263058.17.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"479\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"MTC to cut services for failure to provide biometrics\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-01T18:20:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-01T19:09:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics\"},\"wordCount\":605,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675263058.17.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/mtc-to-cut-services-for-failure-to-provide-biometrics\",\"name\":\"MTC to cut services for failure to provide biometrics - 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