Staff Reporter :
The re-registration of nearly five crore SIMs could not be done with biometric verification due to time deficiency. Today is the last day in hands within which the registration of remaining SIMs’ should be completed to avoid disconnection.
In these circumstances, the leading mobile phone companies have requested for more time to complete the re-registration.
TIM Nurul Kabir, Secretary General of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) said, operators have sent letters to the regulator requesting for the deadline to be extended.
“If authorities do not extend the time of registration, the mobile operators will bear huge losses,” He said.
Source said, Grameenphone has asked for two more months, while Banglalink has asked for one extra month to complete the process.
The State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim said yesterday that about eight crore SIMs were re-registered under biometric verification with the NID database of the total 13.08 crore SIMs.
She said that, already about eight crore mobile SIM cards had been registered so far with biometric details. She said this to the reporters on Friday in a programme at Kandapara Govt. Primary School at Tarabo Municipality in Narayanganj.
She said ‘Mobile phones operators should be more careful regarding SIM registration process to avoid any short of sufferings of the people.
Meanwhile, she has reiterated that the re-registration of all subscribers’ SIM cards under the biometric method will end at 10pm on April 30 as per as the government’s decision.
She has threatened of deactivating the SIMs of those subscribers if they fail to meet the demand for biometric registration or re-registration by April 30. She told that all unregistered SIMs would be blocked for several hours on May 1.” However, some 1.21 crore SIMs could not be registered for various reasons, including fingerprint mismatch with that recorded in the National Identity (NID) cards, she said.
“In this situation, the government will consider them, who could not complete the registrations due to such problems.” Said Tarana.
Mahbub Alam, a retailer of a mobile phone operator said, “There is no second option than extending time for registration under biometric system, as about five crore subscribers could not do the registration.”
However, all telecom operators’ registration points are facing a huge rush of subscribers to complete the SIMs re-registration process. So, due to the large number of unregistered SIMs, the top telecom operators have asked for more time from the authorities.
Biometric registration and re-registration was made mandatory from Dec 16 last year.
On the other hand, Mobile phone operators in Bangladesh have lost more than 2.8 million subscribers in last four months, according to BTRC statistics.
The country had 133.72 million subscribers at the end of December 2015. But in March 2016 the number stands at 130.88 million, says BTRC. In January 2016, the country had 131.95 million subscribers that dropped to 131.08 million in February, indicating a steady drop every month in this quarter. Mobile phone operators think that government’s insistence on biometric registration and re-registration of SIM cards was responsible for this sharp drop in their subscriber base.
Of them, Grameenphone has lost 400,000 subscribers between December and March, BTRC statistics indicated. Banglalink, the second largest operator, lost 900,000 subscribers between December and March. Robi lost as many subscribers in these three months. Airtel lost 600,000 subscribers at the same time, Citycell’s subscriber base also dropped by 200,000.
Only state-sponsored Teletalk has gained more subscribers since the biometric registration was made mandatory. The company got about one lakh new subscribers between December and March 2016. But all SIMs, which are registered, are not active.
The re-registration of nearly five crore SIMs could not be done with biometric verification due to time deficiency. Today is the last day in hands within which the registration of remaining SIMs’ should be completed to avoid disconnection.
In these circumstances, the leading mobile phone companies have requested for more time to complete the re-registration.
TIM Nurul Kabir, Secretary General of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) said, operators have sent letters to the regulator requesting for the deadline to be extended.
“If authorities do not extend the time of registration, the mobile operators will bear huge losses,” He said.
Source said, Grameenphone has asked for two more months, while Banglalink has asked for one extra month to complete the process.
The State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim said yesterday that about eight crore SIMs were re-registered under biometric verification with the NID database of the total 13.08 crore SIMs.
She said that, already about eight crore mobile SIM cards had been registered so far with biometric details. She said this to the reporters on Friday in a programme at Kandapara Govt. Primary School at Tarabo Municipality in Narayanganj.
She said ‘Mobile phones operators should be more careful regarding SIM registration process to avoid any short of sufferings of the people.
Meanwhile, she has reiterated that the re-registration of all subscribers’ SIM cards under the biometric method will end at 10pm on April 30 as per as the government’s decision.
She has threatened of deactivating the SIMs of those subscribers if they fail to meet the demand for biometric registration or re-registration by April 30. She told that all unregistered SIMs would be blocked for several hours on May 1.” However, some 1.21 crore SIMs could not be registered for various reasons, including fingerprint mismatch with that recorded in the National Identity (NID) cards, she said.
“In this situation, the government will consider them, who could not complete the registrations due to such problems.” Said Tarana.
Mahbub Alam, a retailer of a mobile phone operator said, “There is no second option than extending time for registration under biometric system, as about five crore subscribers could not do the registration.”
However, all telecom operators’ registration points are facing a huge rush of subscribers to complete the SIMs re-registration process. So, due to the large number of unregistered SIMs, the top telecom operators have asked for more time from the authorities.
Biometric registration and re-registration was made mandatory from Dec 16 last year.
On the other hand, Mobile phone operators in Bangladesh have lost more than 2.8 million subscribers in last four months, according to BTRC statistics.
The country had 133.72 million subscribers at the end of December 2015. But in March 2016 the number stands at 130.88 million, says BTRC. In January 2016, the country had 131.95 million subscribers that dropped to 131.08 million in February, indicating a steady drop every month in this quarter. Mobile phone operators think that government’s insistence on biometric registration and re-registration of SIM cards was responsible for this sharp drop in their subscriber base.
Of them, Grameenphone has lost 400,000 subscribers between December and March, BTRC statistics indicated. Banglalink, the second largest operator, lost 900,000 subscribers between December and March. Robi lost as many subscribers in these three months. Airtel lost 600,000 subscribers at the same time, Citycell’s subscriber base also dropped by 200,000.
Only state-sponsored Teletalk has gained more subscribers since the biometric registration was made mandatory. The company got about one lakh new subscribers between December and March 2016. But all SIMs, which are registered, are not active.
