UNB, Dhaka :
The country’s mobile telecom operators will be fined if they fail to complete the re-registration of the subscriber identification module (SIM) cards following the biometric method by April 2016.
“If any unregistered SIM is found after the deadline, the mobile telecom operator concerned will be fined $ 50 per SIM,” State Minister for Posts and Telecommunication Tarana Halim told UNB.
But, TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), said 5 to 6 months will be needed for all SIM cards to be re-registered following the biometric method.
He said, “It’ll take time to re-register some 13 crore SIM cards. All the mobile phone subscribers of the country will be brought under the re-registration process and it’ll continue till all the SIMs are registered.”
Trashing the AMTOB statement, Tarana Halim cautioned that the mobile phone operators will not be given unlimited time. “They’ll have to complete the registration and re-registration process by April 2016 and the government will conduct drives from May 2016,” she warned.
All the country’s mobile phone operators will start re-registration of the SIM cards on November 1 following the biometric method on a pilot basis while the main project will begin on December 16.
Meanwhile, mobile operators have signed an agreement with the NID Registration Wing of the Election Commission to get its service in this regard.
As per the deal, the mobile phone operators have already sent the lists of their subscribers to examine the authenticity of the information.
Texts will be sent to the owners of the SIM cards, brought before 2012, seeking NID numbers and the parents’ names. The ministry also ordered the spread of a message – ‘Illegal and unregistered SIM cards are dangerous to the country and nation” – through print and electronic media as well as billboards.
The country’s mobile telecom operators will be fined if they fail to complete the re-registration of the subscriber identification module (SIM) cards following the biometric method by April 2016.
“If any unregistered SIM is found after the deadline, the mobile telecom operator concerned will be fined $ 50 per SIM,” State Minister for Posts and Telecommunication Tarana Halim told UNB.
But, TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), said 5 to 6 months will be needed for all SIM cards to be re-registered following the biometric method.
He said, “It’ll take time to re-register some 13 crore SIM cards. All the mobile phone subscribers of the country will be brought under the re-registration process and it’ll continue till all the SIMs are registered.”
Trashing the AMTOB statement, Tarana Halim cautioned that the mobile phone operators will not be given unlimited time. “They’ll have to complete the registration and re-registration process by April 2016 and the government will conduct drives from May 2016,” she warned.
All the country’s mobile phone operators will start re-registration of the SIM cards on November 1 following the biometric method on a pilot basis while the main project will begin on December 16.
Meanwhile, mobile operators have signed an agreement with the NID Registration Wing of the Election Commission to get its service in this regard.
As per the deal, the mobile phone operators have already sent the lists of their subscribers to examine the authenticity of the information.
Texts will be sent to the owners of the SIM cards, brought before 2012, seeking NID numbers and the parents’ names. The ministry also ordered the spread of a message – ‘Illegal and unregistered SIM cards are dangerous to the country and nation” – through print and electronic media as well as billboards.
