An important announcement from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) was released which affects the vehicle tracking industry. All vehicle tracking numbers will change from a ten (10) digit number to a new fourteen (14) digit machine to machine (M2M) number by the 24th March 2017.
Each active Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) is assigned a cell phone number or in technical terms, a MSISDN number, that is 10 digits in length. Recently, a change has been made by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) that requires all Electronic Communications Network Service (ECNS) and Electronic Communications Service Licensees (ECS) that provide SIM cards utilised by M2M devices, to change the number range from a 10 digit to 14-digit structure.
The dramatic increase in the amount of M2M devices being deployed in South Africa as well as the expected growth in the market, has necessitated that this new number range be created to meet the current and future demand for numbers.
The team at MiX Telematics assure you that the process is seamless and our website tracking applications will continue to operate as per usual, giving you uninterrupted service and full visibility of your vehicles.
Frequently asked questions
How does the regulation impact customers?
MiX Telematics customers using currently supported hardware will not be affected. Customers making use of legacy products (older hardware) may require an upgrade and will receive separate communication regarding this.
Will my SIM card need to be replaced?
No, your SIM card will not need to be replaced
Will there be a cost to me associated with this change?
No, there will be no cost incurred to you
Will there be any downtime when the numbers are migrated from the old MSISDN to the new MSISDN?
No, there will be no system downtime experienced as a result of the change
Do the new numbers have the same functionality as the current ones?
There is no change to the functionality of SIM