Communications Authority Director General David Mugonyi/HANDOUT
Telecommunication companies will now be required to issue public notices before deactivating and recycling mobile numbers that have remained inactive for more than six months.
The new safeguards by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) are aimed at protecting subscribers from losing access to mobile numbers that have increasingly become linked to financial services, online accounts and digital identities.
Under the procedures developed by the regulator, telcos must first use all available contacts provided by subscribers during the Know Your Customer (KYC) process to reach owners whose numbers have been inactive continuously for more than three months.
The contact and notification process will run for three months before a number becomes eligible for recycling.
The CA said service providers must also issue a generic public notice informing the public of their intention to deactivate and recycle numbers that have been inactive for more than six months.
“The recently developed procedures and technical safeguards for deactivation and recycling of inactive mobile numbers, 2026, require all SIM card offering service providers to use all available contacts in their databases, as collected during the know your customer (KYC) process to contact subscribers whose numbers have been detected to be inactive continuously for more than three months,” CA director general David Mugonyi said.
Mugonyi was appearing before the Petitions Committee of the National Assembly regarding compliance by Safaricom Plc with statutory and constitutional obligations relating to SIM card deactivation and reassignment.
The notice will include a USSD facility through which members of the public can check whether their numbers are among those earmarked for deactivation.
The measures follow a March 19, 2026, ruling by the Milimani High Court, which directed the State Law Office, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, to put in place safeguards against unfettered deactivation and arbitrary reassignment of inactive mobile numbers.
The court ruling followed a petition arguing that mobile numbers had become a form of digital identity, given their growing use in accessing financial and online services.
In response, the CA developed procedures and technical safeguards governing the deactivation and recycling of inactive numbers.
The measures were required to be operationalised by September 19, 2026.
The regulator said subscribers who are unable to use their numbers because of prolonged illness, imprisonment, travel or other circumstances can seek to have their numbers whitelisted and protected from recycling.
“For prisoners, as guided by the ruling in case number HCCHRPET/E290/2024, the guidelines require the commissioner of prisons to write to service providers, notifying them to whitelist numbers belonging to inmates who are incarcerated for more than six months,” the Authority noted.
“The said whitelisting therefore covers those who are sick, incarcerated, in remand, or deceased, provided the authorised person provides evidence when requesting for whitelisting.”
A subscriber or a person legally authorised to act on their behalf can request the protection, subject to providing evidence.
The regulator further said that where attempts to reach a subscriber fail, data associated with the number will be delinked, archived and retained in accordance with applicable data-retention laws.
The authority said it would continue monitoring implementation of the safeguards and review them in response to technological, legal and regulatory developments, as well as consumer interests.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
The development comes amid concerns that recycling mobile numbers could expose former subscribers to privacy and financial risks, particularly where numbers have previously been used to access banking, mobile money and other digital services.
