Despite directives from Conatel, the SIM cards of the two communication giants in Haiti continue to flow without registration, notes AyiboPost
In January 2024, around twenty SIM resellers met by AyiboPost in Turgeau, in front of the head offices of Digicel and Natcom, as well as at the Carrefour de l’Airport and Rue Rivière, say they sell SIM cards from both companies, sometimes dozens at a time, without requiring a valid ID, which contravenes regulations put in place by the National Telecommunications Council.
These illegal sales as well as the systematic non-identification of numbers in use on the two networks often endanger the work of investigators from the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police, in a context of heightened crime.
Two DCPJ investigators revealed to AyiboPost that they are encountering difficulties in advancing investigations due to the use by criminals of unregistered SIM cards. They request anonymity for fear of reprisals from the companies.
“Some kidnappers use dozens of numbers, and generally, they are not registered anywhere,” a DCPJ investigator told AyiboPost.
“Certain investigations are at a standstill because of this,” continues the source, who accuses telecoms companies of “unwittingly participating in the worsening of the phenomenon of insecurity in the country.”
Most bandits and their accomplices buy a lot of SIM cards and use them for “single use”, according to another DCPJ investigator who questions the unrestricted sale of Digicel and Natcom chips in the streets.
Top view of the Natcom company headquarters.
These sales are easily carried out in broad daylight, raising questions about CONATEL’s power and willingness to enforce its own directives.
According to CONATEL rules, activation of SIM cards can only be done after “registration and verification of user information in the operator’s database”.
On January 18, 2024, AyiboPost obtained two SIM cards respectively from Digicel (34643064) and Natcom (55793777) from street sellers in Port-au-Prince without the presentation of identity documents. The journalist was then able to use these SIMs to make calls, without any restrictions from the companies.
Natcom and Digicel SIM cards purchased by AyiboPost from street vendors in Port-au-Prince without the presentation of identity documents.
The partnership between the DCPJ and telecommunications companies allows the institution to find geolocated data or track the unique number attached to a phone, despite a change of SIM card.
According to a source familiar with the functioning of the regulator, the real problem for the judicial police lies in the impossibility of physically going to certain areas totally under the control of the bandits.
If this source recognizes the identification of SIMs as an obstacle to the pursuit of certain investigations, it recalls that the systematic deactivation of chips without information would constitute a significant loss of earnings for companies, in a context where they suffer repeated acts of vandalism against their equipment and infrastructure.
These illegal sales as well as the systematic non-identification of numbers in use on the two networks often endanger the work of DCPJ investigators, in a context of heightened crime.
It was in 2012 that CONATEL released a first measure aimed at curbing the massive and disorderly sale of SIM cards in the country.
In this directive published in the official journal Le Moniteur in August, CONATEL prohibited any buyer from acquiring ten SIM cards in a single transaction. Operators also could not sell more than 60 chips to a single reseller.
Read also: SIM cards sold without control on the streets used by criminals
Despite CONATEL’s call, the disorder continued. This forced the regulatory body to issue a second directive in November 2020 to recall the importance of respecting decisions related to the identification of users, in a context of media coverage of cases of kidnappings, abuse and threats.
In the text published in the official journal in 2020, the regulator prohibited the sale of SIM cards without the presentation of an identification document or a valid passport and subsequently requested the identification of all activated SIM cards.
The directive also requires the signing of a justification form for any purchase by a user of more than five SIM cards. It requires verification of information before any activation, and requires Digicel and Natcom to “trace” the sale of the chips.
Despite CONATEL’s call, the disorder continued.
Haiti has a problem identifying its citizens. At least three million gThey do not have a birth certificate and millions of others do not have an identification card.
Read also: General census: disagreement between two institutions of the Haitian state
To overcome this problem, the 2020 CONATEL directive allowed an interested party without identity documents to be accompanied by a witness who has an identification document for the purchase of a SIM. The parents of minors can also, according to CONATEL, buy them a chip.
The sale of SIMs without the presentation of an identity document makes Haiti unique in the vast majority of Latin American and Caribbean countries.
In November last year, Honduras sanctioned that country’s two telecommunications companies for failing to comply with the requirement to record SIM card purchaser information, according to an article in The Informative. According to experts cited by this media, the irregular sale of SIM cards has a direct impact on the level of insecurity, because it facilitates the planning and execution of criminal acts.
Some kidnappers use dozens of numbers, and usually they are not registered anywhere.
On the other side of the border, in the Dominican Republic, you must have identification to obtain a SIM card.
A Salvadoran woman, visiting the DR for a week in 2021, told AyiboPost that she was unable to buy a SIM because the company required five days to be able to add her information to the database with her passport. This registration is mandatory to validate the purchase, he was told.
In El Salvador, where Digicel operates, the requirement for an identification document also remains strict.
And in Cuba, foreigners and locals must present identification to buy a SIM card in a market totally controlled by the state, noted an AyiboPost journalist visiting this country in December 2022.
The entity responsible for telecommunications in Haiti, CONATEL, did not respond to requests for comment transferred via email and telephone to its communications manager before publication.
On January 22, 2024, around 2 p.m., AyiboPost went to the head offices of Digicel and Natcom to ask how a potential customer can purchase 100 SIM cards.
“You just need an ID, then you can buy the quantity you want, and customers can come and register themselves,” responds an employee met at the showroom located at the entrance to the Digicel administrative building .
Inside the Digicel administrative building, the number of a sales manager was communicated to AyiboPost.
Reached by telephone, the representative of the red company declared: “If it is for business, you will not need an identity card, because they are pre-activated cards. You can start with 250 SIM cards. (…) But, for now, after the purchase, I will just visit your company.”
This way of proceeding seems to contravene CONATEL regulations. The Council requires verification of customer information “before” any activation of SIM cards.
On the other side of the border, in the Dominican Republic, you must have identification to obtain a SIM card.
A similar situation arises at the Natcom level. “To become a reseller, you just need to have the money,” declares a company representative met on site.
“Several options are available to you,” continues the employee. You can either purchase already activated SIM cards that expire in three months, or acquire SIMs that identify your own buyers through the MBCCS app. In this case, the buyer can go directly to the company for activation, but it will be at their discretion.
Read also: Digicel says it cannot listen to customer calls
Out of thirteen sellers contacted around Carrefour Aéroport for the purchase of a Digicel or Natcom SIM card, none require an identity document.
“Usually, I don’t ask customers for any identification documents, you just have to pay for the SIM and everything is ok,” Gerald Alexis, an authorized MonCash agent and SIM seller in Drouillard, told AyiboPost.
Same observation for Daniel Bertrand, a Digicel and Natcom SIM card trader met near the Natcom company on Avenue Martin Luther King.
“I do not require identification when selling my SIM cards, because this practice is no longer in force,” says Bertrand. If someone wishes to register their SIM, they must do so directly with the company,” says the man who says he has been doing this job for around five years.
SIM cards from the Digicel company on sale in front of the central office premises in Turgeau.
Cherlin, a Natcom company SIM card reseller at Carrefour de l’Airport, sells its chips without identity documents. “I can buy 50 SIM cards for my business and at the time of purchase I am not asked for ID. Besides, the SIM cards are already activated, so there is no need for the buyer to provide a part, Cherlin tells AyiboPost.
A significantly different situation can be seen at Posse Multi-services on Avenue Martin Luther King. “For Digicel SIM cards, I do not ask for identity documents, but for Natcom SIMs, yes, since sometimes we are obliged to register them,” a business manager we met on site told AyiboPost.
The sale of SIMs without the presentation of an identity document makes Haiti unique in the vast majority of Latin American and Caribbean countries.
The two companies were contacted without success through their communications and via email before publication.
In the wake of the 2020 CONATEL directive, Digicel and Natcom announced the release of two applications, DICUREG and MBCCS respectively, to allow sellers to record information regarding SIM card buyers such as the photo of their identification cards . The sellers met for this article do not use these applications. It is not clear why their use is not enforced in the sale of chips.
“DICUREG from Digicel has not been working for more than a year,” a project manager from L’Eternal Multi-Services, an agency, told AyiboPost. Digicel SIM card sales on the road to the airport. “If you want 1,000 SIM cards, we can provide it to you,” confides a representative of the institution. The latter requires identification for the buyer, but nothing in the way of documentation for the supposed company he represents.
Gerald Alexis, an authorized MonCash agent, said he had never heard of the DICUREG application when shopping for SIMs.
MBCCS appears on the Play Store, but users complain of difficulties using the application and its erratic functioning, according to public comments, read online by AyiboPost.
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Par Lucnise Duquereste et Widlore Mérancourt
© Cover image: A person holding their phone with multiple SIM cards.
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