NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 19 – The High Court has given the government a six-month deadline to establish a regulatory framework governing the deactivation and reassignment of mobile phone numbers, specifically preserving prisoners’ registered numbers until their release.In a judgment rendered virtually on Thursday, Justice Lawrence Mugambi ruled that mobile phone numbers constitute personal digital identifiers, directly linking an individual to sensitive personal data. The court held that telecommunication operators cannot deactivate or reassign numbers without the informed and verifiable consent of the original subscriber.The decision arose from Constitutional Petition No. E290 of 2024, filed by two petitioners, including a long-term prisoner, against the Attorney General and the Kenya Prisons Service. The petitioners challenged the automatic deactivation and reassignment of mobile numbers after 90 days of inactivity, arguing that such practices exposed private data—including bank notifications, family communications, and other sensitive digital identifiers—to third parties.Justice Mugambi noted that the existing regulations under Legal Notice 90 of 2025, which allow deactivation after periods of non-use, are “unreasonable and arbitrary” because they fail to consider legitimate circumstances that prevent use, such as imprisonment, students in restricted environments, or individuals abroad in non-roaming zones.RisksThe court highlighted the risks posed by unfettered number recycling. “When mobile digital identity is lost through reallocation or recycling without interrogating the reasons behind the long period of non-use or inactivity, it creates an avenue for unauthorized disclosure of delicate information such as the person’s family or financial affairs to third parties,” the judgment stated.Justice Mugambi further underscored the constitutional protection of prisoners’ rights under Article 51, noting that “imprisonment should not translate to extinction of a prisoner’s digital identity.”“Automatic loss of the digital identity risks infringing on their right to privacy as their personal information linked and shared through digital identity may spill over to third parties without their consent or approval.”The High Court issued a mandatory directive requiring the Attorney General, in consultation with the Kenya Prisons Service, the Communication Authority of Kenya, and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, to implement measures safeguarding digital identities against arbitrary deactivation and reassignment.Specifically, for prisoners, Justice Mugambi mandated the formulation of a regulatory scheme to ensure that registered mobile numbers are preserved throughout incarceration, enabling prisoners to retain or reclaim their numbers upon release. He also directed technical safeguards preventing unauthorized exposure of personal data linked to recycled numbers.