URSB joins Uganda’s mobile device crackdown: here is why it matters for the bureau
The Uganda Registration Services Bureau’s Compliance and Enforcement team, led by D/SP Salama Nyirasafari, was among the government agencies that turned up at Protea Hotel, Kampala, on 19th May 2026 for a half-day training on SIMU KLEAR, Uganda’s new national mobile device tracking system.
SIMU KLEAR, managed by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), tracks every handset on Uganda’s networks using its unique IMEI number and plans to lock out devices that are counterfeit, unregistered, or smuggled. What makes URSB central to the system is simple: only legally registered companies will participate. That places the bureau, as the country’s primary business and intellectual property registrar, at the very gateway of compliance.
For URSB, the relevance cuts across three of its core mandates. On business compliance, the bureau’s registration data will be used by UCC to verify that importers and retailers are legitimate entities, giving URSB records a direct enforcement role.
On intellectual property, counterfeit handsets that violate registered trademarks will be blocked from networks, giving IP owners registered with URSB tangible, automatic protection from market dilution. And on anti-fraud, law enforcement agencies investigating device-related crimes will be able to trace suspects back to their URSB-registered entities using the system’s data trail.
The bureau also sees opportunity in its insolvency and official receiver functions: when telecom businesses collapse or face fraud investigations, URSB can now coordinate with UCC and law enforcement using device and SIM data as evidence.
The team left the training with a clear takeaway: SIMU KLEAR is not a UCC project that URSB watches from a distance. It is a system where the bureau’s data is foundational. Further training sessions will be needed to fully appreciate the system’s operational depth.
