BSS, Chittagong :State Minister for Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Tarana Halim yesterday called upon the subscribers to complete their biometric SIM registration by April 30.She emphatically said all unregistered SIMs will be blocked in phases after the stipulated time frame.”The fingerprint for SIM registration is meant for online verification. There is no way that it would leak out of the National Identification Number (NID) database,” she added. She said, “There is no scope to go slow as this is of high priority, and we will be tough on the issue.”The government plans to biometrically verify all active SIMs – 13.32 crore in number as of April,30, Tarana told journalists after inaugurating Ericsson Chittagong office and Internet of Things (IOT) Portal at Hotel Agrabad yesterday afternoon. The state Minister said subscribers will now have to provide fingerprints for buying SIM cards while owners of previously issued SIMs will have to register in the new process by April 30.So far, 42 percent of SIM cards have come under biometric registration and verification, she replied to a question. The government launched mandatory biometric SIM registration system for all cell phones in November last year to curb terrorism, militancy and crimes in the country.The Telecommunications Minister has warned the retailers that the government will cancel their licenses if they failed to carry out biometric registration of SIM by the stipulated time.The state minister said Teletalk is also considering a fourth generation mobile network project of TK 4,600 crore, which is now under evaluation of the Planning Commission. The government has Planned to expand network coverage of Teletalk, increase the number of base stations, for catching more subscribers, she said.The operator currently has 3,750 base stations, of which only 1,562 are 3G sites. Teletalk has covered 476 upazilas with the 2G technology but their 3G coverage is available in only 95 upazilas to date, she said .However, Tarana said they will look for new investment from outside the company before moving to a 4G project if the investment is not found from the government.”Digital Bangladesh by 2021″ is just not an election manifesto of Bangladesh Awami League; it is a dream. Ericsson is our main partner in building sustainable telecommunications backbone, I would like to thank Ericsson for working hard,” she added. She said Bangladesh has a great opportunity to leverage the communication benefits with global transformation that is occurring and take advantage of increasing productivity.She hoped Ericsson, with its global technology and service leadership will bring in new technology that can benefit Bangladesh as a whole”. Managing director of Ericsson Bangladesh Limited Mr. Raj presided over the inaugural function addressed among others by Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministry Imran Ahmad, MP, Ambassador of Sweden Johan Frisell, Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh General Secretary TIM Nurul Kabir and Teletalk Managing Director Gias Uddin Ahmed.
