As a 10 November deadline looms for mobile phone users in Senegal to register their sim cards, some subscribers have already found themselves deprived of a service, France’s RFI radio reports.
The move for mandatory registration is understood to be a security measure in the fight against terrorism.
It is believed that phones can be used to plan attacks or to remotely detonate explosives.
To avoid being cut off by their networks, people in Senegal must show up in person at premises of their operator with their ID to have their name and address registered.
But one man told RFI that his phone connection had been stopped because his passport had expired and he had no other ID documents to show officials as he was from Burkina Faso:
The system seems a little outdated. I have lived here in Dakar for more than four years and I am told I can’t register because my passport has expired.”
Other countries in the region, such as Burkina Faso, have already enforced such regulations.
Senegal has so far avoided a major attack by Islamist militants, but the country neighbours Mali, which has been fighting al-Qaeda-linked militants for several years.
This year al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb launched two deadly attacks elsewhere in West Africa: A cafe and hotel was targeted in Burkina Faso in January and a beach resort in Ivory Coast in March. Senegal already requires foreign nationals to register to get a sim card.