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Equity's Thin SIM Cleared On a One-Year Pilot Basis(AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) EQUITY Bank has won the first round of its protracted battle with giant mobile network operator Safaricom over its planned venture into mobile phone services by introducing overlay SIM cards. Telecommunications regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya and its banking counterpart the Central Bank of Kenya yesterday allowed use of thin SIM card technology in offering mobile phone services including money transfer on an initial a one-year pilot. The two said during the period the use of the technology will remain under "strict observation". It will also be restricted to Taisy's SIM cards - the Taiwanese firm Equity contracted through its Mobile Virtual Network Provider Finserve Africa. CA said Taisy's cards comply with ISO and ETSI standards based on tests conducted by China National Computer Supervising Test Centre and Bank Card Test Centre of China. The two regulators said at a joint press briefing at CA offices in Nairobi the thin SIM cards complied with "all minimum mandatory international standards" related to their manufacturing. CA chairman Ngene Gituku said the process of hiring an international firm to conduct an independent security audit on all SIM cards and in particular the thin SIM in mobile transfer services has started with terms of reference already prepared. The authority expects the procurement process to take a maximum of six months with the successful firm expected to deliver its verdict six months after being awarded the tender. "During the one year testing period, if any vulnerability is discovered...then operation of the (Taisy's thin) SIM cards in the Kenyan markets will cease forthwith pending the recommendations from the security report," Gituku said. The audit report will inform formulation of a regulatory framework on the thin SIM technology,CA managing director Francis Wangusi said. CBK governor Njuguna Ndung'u advised Equity's subsidiary Finserve Africa and the other two licensed MVNOs - Zioncell Kenya and MobilePay - to apply for a mobile money transfer licence in line with the National Payment System Act 2011 and its facilitative regulations ratified this year. "As soon as they apply, the regulator just looks at what are the products and the risks," Ndung'u said. "If the CA has allowed them, for us it's just to repackage the financial product they are offering in the market." The technology enables placement of a thin SIM card on top of a primary standard one, a new technology that had been opposed by Safaricom over data security concerns. "If you type your PIN code or other codes, for it to access your tool kit, the thin SIM sitting in between is capable of seeing that transaction," argued Safaricom's head of regulatory and public policy Stephen Chege on September 5 before parliament's departmental committee on energy and ICT. While welcoming the CA verdict yesterday, Safaricom implored the regulator to fast track the proposed security review on all SIM cards and publish the guidelines in the interests of protecting consumers and financial institutions that will remain vulnerable to the potential risks created by the 'man-in-the-middle attack'. "In the interim, Safaricom will review some of the legal commitments to its customers and business partners with the view of addressing the legal exposures that could be created by the use of the SIM overlay technology, particularly in relation to mobile banking,"director of corporate affairs Nzioka Waita said in a statement. Copyright The Star. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |