The Uganda Communications Commission has said the Sim card registration exercise which started in March this year has hit 40% mark and will be above 90% by March 1, 2013.

Addressing a press conference at the UCC head offices in Kampala on Sept.18 Fred Otunnu, head of corporate affairs at the Commission said the first months of the exercise recorded a high turn up of participants until recently when numbers declined.

"The problem has been many people saying they will register in future," Otunnu said. "That is bad we need them to register before deadline."

Otunnu warned: "There shall be no extension of the deadline."

Uganda has about 17million mobile phone subscribers. The Commission embarked on the registration exercise so that individuals committing crimes using the mobile phone can easily be identified and dealt with.

At regional level the exercise has been completed in Tanzania and Kenya. For Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda it is ongoing.