A digitalised system to verify documents will be developed soon to thwart sale of unlawfully-registered SIM (subscriber identity module) cards in the country, officials have said.
According to them, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and the mobile phone operators have already started working in this connection as the issue has created massive security concern.
"A server containing the database of national identity cards (NIDs) will be developed within next 90 days," a senior BTRC official said adding that the server would be maintained by a third party-run company.
"Once the system is implemented, documents provided by the subscribers could be verified within seconds, just by sending a text to the system," the BTRC official said.
He said the system would provide the name and date of birth of the subscriber according to the NID card and the distributors will match these with the documents provided.
"Otherwise, the networks won't support SIM cards," the official said. However, the respective operator will be required to pay Tk 3.0 for verification of the document each time.
As per the rules, eighteen plus people will need to submit their NID cards to buy SIM cards and the people below the age will require to submit NID cards of their guardians.
However, following visits to many outlets in the capital, this correspondent found pre-activated SIM cards of almost all mobile operators including Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Airtel to have been displayed and sold.
"Documents aren't mandatory. However if you want, then you can supply. We don't have problem," Hasanul Elahi, a retail level seller at Paltan, said.
Earlier, law enforcement agencies expressed their security concern as they unearthed that criminals used unregistered SIM cards to establish underworld networks.
According to law-enforcement agencies concerned, about 0.15 million Bangladeshi mobile phone SIM cards are allegedly being used in criminal activities.
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BTRC, cos developing device to verify papers
Khairul Islam | Published: November 28, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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