The Government has moved to lift the ban on Airtime Scratch cards that came into effect at the of July 2018. The commission had earlier extended the deadline as they tried to harmonize the system to prepare the public for electronic airtime.
The move to lift the ban comes after a meeting held at Parliament yesterday and attended by the Speaker flatly rejected the ban. The Speaker argued that the ban on airtime scratch cards would drastically affect the non-tech savvy rural community. She noted that these entirely rely on scratch cards as a source of employment.
UCC has succumbed to Members of Parliament request to have mobile telecommunications companies sell airtime cards alongside the electronic airtime recharge. During a dialogue with MPs, Ministry of ICT and Telecom Companies at parliament, UCC ED agreed to lift the ban. “I agree with that position,” said Mr Godfrey Mutabazi.
The fight against ban on Airtime Scratch cards
“We had a skirmish over the SIM card registration; Parliament had to come in to make sure the dead line is extended). After that, we had a skirmish on [Over The Top] tax but we are handling that. The next is this one where…there are a lot of complaints about lack of access…” said Ms Kadaga
MPs like Ms Florence Namayanja (Bukoto East MP) registered less communication from their constituents after the ban. “The number of calls I receive from my constituents after the ban has gone down.” she said.
Telecoms take on Airtime Scratch Cards co-existing with electronic recharge.
“If the policy is that we want the market forces to take care of phasing out, then that is what will happen”. Mr Vanhelleputte said. He added that the poor illiterate people would not be able to go electronic.
Africell, Uganda Telecom and Airtel Uganda said their companies offer their customers both alternatives to load airtime.
Airtime Scratch cards will live with other modes of selling airtime like Cellulant, PayWay, Pebuu and others. Consequently, a person wiill have to choose from an array of available options.
