Rwandans living in the Diaspora have started registering their roaming SIM cards online.

The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (Rura) said the project, which started on Tuesday, targeted MTN Rwanda subscribers. 

The telecom firm is the only local network that has roaming SIM cards, RURA said in a statement yesterday. "The move comes as a response to a request by the Diaspora to have their SIM cards registered by the regulatory body without necessarily coming back home. Our people will be able to register their SIM cards using the online registration forms on MTN website,” said Francois Regis Gatarahiya, the Rura director general.

The online registration project followed other mechanisms Rura and the telecoms have put in place to ensure that subscribers beat the July 31 deadline. The general SIM card registration exercise is targeting 6.2 million subscribers of the three telecom operators in the country, Airtel, MTN and Tigo.

SIM cards that will not have been registered by then will be deactivated and disconnected, according to Rura, adding that 78 per cent of the subscribers had registered their SIM cards by mid this month.