Sales of unregistered SIM cards galore

The sales of pre-activated SIM (subscriber identification module) cards are galore across the country with the regulator's directives defied.
People, involved in the telecom industry and the law enforcement agencies, said a large number of sold but unregistered SIM cards are used for criminal activities as the criminals can easily hide themselves from the law enforcers.
This reporter found many outlets in the capital pre-activated SIM cards of almost all mobile operators including Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Airtel being displayed and sold.
"Documents aren't mandatory. However if you want, then you can be given one. We don't have problem," Hasanul Elahi, a retailer at Paltan area said and added that the operators couldn't block even in future as they are authorised.
Admitting the regular sales of pre-activated SIMs of all telecom networks, Abu Hasnat, who is a retailer at the city's Nilkhet area, said the issue isn't secret now as almost all the retailers are doing this openly.
When contacted, an official of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said, despite repeated warnings, distributors, in collusion with the operators, are selling pre-activated SIM cards.
"The telcos always blame retailers and distributors for the wrongdoing. But, as a matter of fact, they are also responsible for the rampant sales of pre-activated SIM cards," the BTRC official said, preferring anonymity.
"However, we are working with the stakeholders including operators and law enforcement agencies to thwart sales of illegal SIMs," the BTRC official said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs recently had a meeting with the operators where they agreed to work together to stop sales of SIMs with fake documents across the country.
Earlier, law and enforcement agencies expressed their concern as they found the criminals are using unregistered SIM cards to operate their underworld networks.
According to law-enforcement agencies, there are about 0.15 million Bangladeshi mobile phone SIM cards allegedly being used in carrying out criminal activities.
However, mobile operators strongly denied sales of the SIM cards without registration or necessary documents.
"Grameenphone is a compliant company and we do not condone the sales of SIM cards without necessary documents. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous traders at the retail level may be using fake documents," said GP's spokesman Syed Talat Kamal.
He said before selling, the retailers often register the SIMs using their own documents or other fake documents as the current policy does not limit the number of SIM sales under a single national identity card.
"Moreover, we can't even verify the given documents as we don't have access to the NID database," Mr Kamal added
Secretary General of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) TIM Nurul Kabir told the FE that the concerned ministry, the regulator and the association have agreed to work together to thwart sales of fake registered SIM cards across the country.
"Once the operators will get the access to the NID database, then they could cross-check the documents provided by the customers," Mr Kabir said adding that it will require technical process.
As per a BTRC directive issued in September 2012, a mobile connection will be activated after the subscriber submits documents like copy of his/her national identity card and photograph to the retailer and the mobile operator concerned completes verification of the documents.
Meanwhile, the High Court on April 01, 2014 directed the mobile operators and the government agencies concerned to deactivate immediately the unregistered SIM cards issued or sold through dealers.

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