All prepaid SIMs to be reverified in 28 days in Pakistan

Interior Minister of Pakistan Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan has asked the telecom operators to block all the prepaid SIMs and re-verify them within 28 days which has put the telecom operators in deep trouble. According to the Interior Ministry, all the prepaid SIMs should be deactivated by the respective operators and then re-verified by using biometric system since there are millions of unregistered SIMs in the country. These SIMs are a security threat as an unregistered SIM can be easily used for any unlawful activity and the process to track the user is very tedious for law enforcement agencies. The suggestion came from the Interior Ministry after Peshawar APS attack where security agencies found 5 registered SIMs that were used by terrorists. However, the telecom representatives in a meeting with PTA yesterday showed concerns over the demand of Interior Ministry and termed it a very cumbersome task within this short period of time and it would be near to impossible for millions of people to approach franchises for getting their SIMs re-verified. Today Minister of IT and Telecom Anusha Rehman also met with representative of telecom operators for reaching on a conclusion regarding re-verification of pre-paid SIMs in Pakistan.The meeting concluded without a result, an official of the ministry privy to the matter confirmed. Although, there is another meeting of CEOs of telecom operator with Interior Minister on coming Saturday but a solution to the matter is unlikely, the official further confirmed. An official of the leading telecom company, on the condition of anonymity told MORE Magazine that the industry has always obeyed the laws of state. Even billions of rupees were spent for installing biometric SIM verification system. “We have been following all the SOPs as designed by Ministry of IT and the PTA. It would be devastating for the industry if such a thing is forced upon us”, official added. Pervez Iftikhar, a senior telecom analysts sees it as a very cumbersome and costly exercise in this short period of 28 days. “There should be a viable procedure to re-verify all the unregistered SIMs in Pakistan but government should also take notice of mobile phones with duplicate IMEI numbers. Most of the Chinese mobile phone sellers do not bother to imprint a legal IMEI number on their phones”, added Iftikhar. To some, re-verifying mobile phone SIMs could alter the ranking of telecom operators and it is equally disturbing for PTA who has taken many international awards on achieving this number of subscribers in Pakistan that currently stands around 140 million subscribers. Having said that, loyalty with the country demands that curbing terrorism should be the foremost priority and for this reason, there is a dire need that all the prepaid SIMs should be re-verified for the sake of the country’s security. However, the government should find a solution to make the SIMs biometrically verified that could be less costly for the operators.