South Africa may check your fingerprint or face before you get a SIM. Here’s what the plan says

South Africa’s communications regulator wants every new SIM card checked against your fingerprint or face, and a cap of five numbers per person on each network. The proposed ICASA SIM rules were published in the Government Gazette on Oct. 28, 2026, and they are not final yet. Here is what they would change, when, and how to send your view before the deadline.

What the ICASA SIM rules would change

The draft is called the Numbering Plan Fifth Amendment Regulations, 2026. You can read the full draft in the Government Gazette. The main changes for people with a phone:

• Biometric checks. When a number is activated or reactivated, your network must confirm who you are through biometric verification against Department of Home Affairs records. In practice that means a fingerprint or face check.
• Safer SIM swaps. Before swapping your number to a new SIM, the network must check that the person asking matches the person the number belongs to, and refuse if they do not match.
• Five numbers per network. A network may assign no more than five mobile numbers to one person. Numbers held by companies are exempt.
• Visitors. A number given to a foreign visitor stays active only as long as their visa, or for 90 days.
• Limits on your data. The biometric data may be used only to verify identity, and records must not be kept longer than 30 days after a number is switched off, with some legal exceptions.

Will five numbers per network be enough?

For most people, yes. ICASA cites 117,316,338 mobile subscriptions and an estimated 63 million people, about 2.79 per person. Because the cap applies to each network separately, ICASA points out that one person could still hold more than 20 numbers across the country’s networks.

The people most likely to feel it are small business owners who keep work lines in their own name rather than a company’s, and families where one parent registers every child’s number. If that is you, moving business lines into a registered company’s name would keep them outside the cap.

Why ICASA wants this

In plain terms: SIM swap fraud works because a criminal can convince a shop to move your number to their SIM, then catch the one time codes your bank sends. A face or fingerprint check at the counter makes that much harder. ICASA also says the changes help it manage phone numbers, which are a limited public resource, and act against numbers used without authorization.

The trade off is privacy. Every activation would mean handing biometric data to a network. The draft limits how it can be used and how long records are kept, and if you want clearer rules on how networks must secure it, that is a fair point to raise in a comment. Recycled numbers raise similar risks, which we covered when Nigeria’s regulator asked companies to check for recycled numbers.

When would the ICASA SIM rules start?

Not soon. The biometric checks and the five number cap would take effect 12 months after the final rules are published. Networks would then have two years to verify existing customers. ICASA says most networks already use biometric checks for contract customers, but not yet for prepaid.

How to comment before the deadline

• Email your written comments to numberingresourceplancommittee@icasa.org.za.
• The notice allows 30 working days from Oct. 28. By our count, that ends on Dec. 9, 2026.
• Say clearly if you want to present your views in person at a hearing.
• Questions go to Elias Letlape at ICASA on (012) 568 3323.

South Africa is also reworking how ATMs serve customers. Here is the plan to let every ATM serve every bank’s customers.