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Johannesburg - The 5% of South Africans who have not rica'd
their sim and data cards must do so before midnight on Thursday, Communications
Deputy Minister Obed Bapela said on Wednesday.
"The progress is that 95% have Rica'd overall...
that's 37 million sim and data cards done," he said at a briefing in
Midrand.
He said the sim and data cards of the remaining 2.7 million
would be disconnected unless they had rica'd by midnight on Thursday.
All 8ta customers have already rica'd. Most Vodacom Group [JSE:VOD] shops
would stay open until 10pm on Thursday to complete the process. Cell C and MTN
Group [JSE:MTN] shops would remain open until midnight.
Bapela said there were queues at shops on Wednesday and
service providers had prepared for a last-minute rush.
MTN had registered the cards of 98% of its contract
customers and 96% of its prepaid users, while Vodacom had registered 98.4% of
those on contract and 93.6% on prepaid.
Cell C had registered 99% of those on contract and 94% of those on prepaid.
Bapela warned that it was not only cellphones which had to
be rica'd, but all devices using sim and data cards.
These included 3G modems, home security systems, traffic light systems, teller machines, and electronic gates at complexes.
Service providers said those who were not sure if their
cards had been rica'd could check via their cellphones.
Vodacom users could send the word 'rica' to 31050, MTN subscribers could call *131*4#, and Cell C users *133*7422#.
