The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has outlined new safeguards for deactivating and recycling inactive mobile numbers after Parliament questioned how Safaricom handles phone numbers belonging to customers who stop using their SIM cards.
CA Director-General David Mugonyi appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Petitions Committee on October 6, 2026, to respond to complaints that inactive Safaricom numbers were being deactivated and later reassigned to new users without adequate notice to the original subscribers.
The committee opened the inquiry after receiving a petition from Thomson Kerongo and Asiago Stephen. The petitioners said Safaricom normally deactivates SIM cards after about six months of inactivity before reallocating the numbers.
Their concern was not only losing the number. A mobile number can now be linked to mobile-money accounts, banking services, social media, email, and other online services, meaning reassignment could create problems for former subscribers if the process is not properly managed.
The committee also raised the question of what happens to money held in mobile-money accounts when the owner dies and the associated number is later deactivated or recycled.
CA Explains What Should Happen Before a Number Is Recycled
Mugonyi told MPs that operators are already required to follow procedures developed by the CA for the deactivation and recycling of inactive numbers.
Under the 2026 framework, an operator must first attempt to contact a subscriber whose number has remained continuously inactive for more than three months.
Operators are required to use available contact information collected during SIM registration, including alternative telephone numbers, email addresses, and other KYC details.
The notification process then runs for another three months. A number that remains inactive for more than six months can subsequently become eligible for deactivation and recycling, subject to the required public notice.
Operators must also publish a notice informing the public about numbers due for deactivation and provide a USSD facility through which people can verify whether their numbers are affected.
In effect, the CA says the process is not supposed to involve a subscriber simply losing a number without warning.
READ: How CA Proposes to Fix Kenya’s Mobile Number Shortage
MPs Raise Concern Over M-Pesa Funds
The hearing also exposed a more difficult question around numbers belonging to deceased subscribers.
Committee chairperson Turbo MP Janet Sitienei raised the case of a deceased relative whose SIM card was believed to have contained money that the family had been unable to access.
MPs wanted to know who should be notified when a subscriber dies and whether money associated with a deactivated or recycled number falls under Kenya’s unclaimed-assets framework.
The CA’s appearance did not produce a specific new mechanism for recovering such mobile-money balances. The issue remains part of the broader parliamentary inquiry, which is expected to involve Safaricom, the CA, the Central Bank of Kenya, the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority, and consumer representatives.
Some Numbers Can Be Protected
The CA also told MPs that subscribers who cannot use their numbers for extended periods can seek protection from recycling.
Numbers can be whitelisted where a subscriber is expected to remain inactive for more than six months because of circumstances such as illness, imprisonment, or other incapacity.
For prisoners, the Commissioner of Prisons can notify operators and request that qualifying numbers be protected during incarceration.
READ: Kenya Plans to Deactivate Mobile Numbers After 3 Months of No Use
The Bigger Problem Is Incomplete SIM Registration Data
One of the more significant issues to emerge from the hearing was that the notification system depends on operators having accurate information about subscribers.
Mugonyi told MPs that some customers do not provide alternative contact details during SIM registration, while some agents fail to insist on collecting them.
The CA is therefore considering proposals for mobile network operators to handle SIM registration directly rather than relying on third-party agents.
The hearing therefore produced two separate outcomes. The National Assembly is continuing its inquiry into Safaricom’s handling of inactive numbers, while the CA has set out a framework intended to prevent numbers from being silently deactivated and reassigned.
The unresolved issue is what happens to the financial and digital accounts left behind when a number’s original owner can no longer be reached, particularly in cases involving deceased subscribers.
