KARACHI, March 10: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has done nothing to compile a mobile phone directory containing numbers of all cellular phones operating in the city.

PTA sources in the headquarters in Islamabad told Dawn on Sunday that such a plan had been considered in the past — especially, in the wake of the use of mobile phones in the terrorist activities — but it seemed to have been shelved. “At one time the telecommunications regulator was considering asking all mobile companies operating in the country to share their data bank with one another and compile a mobile phone directory. But for some reason no progress has been made on this issue,” they said.

They pointed out that compiling a mobile phone directory was no easy task, for the number of cellular phones in the country was fast increasing. “The four mobile firms are registering new subscribers at such a fast rate that any mobile phone directory would have to be updated at very small intervals. This is evident from the fact that the government is earning quite a lot from activation charges alone.”

Sources in the telecommunications industry point out that on average, 80,000 connections are issued every month. The government charges Rs2,000 per connection as activation charges. The annual revenue generated through activation charges comes to Rs1.9 billion.”

Analysts point out that the government is already doing a lot to help the mobile phone industry. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has done its bit. A PTA notice dated July 22, 2002, says: “It is worthwhile to mention that the ministry of science and technology has decided to abolish type approval of the cellular mobile phone handsets and permitted all the commercial importers to import cellular handsets/accessories without any type approval/NOC from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.”

“The mobile companies should be asked to furnish some basic information about their subscribers, such as their names, addresses and mobile phone numbers,” the PTA sources said.

They added that for a mobile phone directory the cellular phone companies would have to procure correct information from their subscribers which might come in handy during a criminal investigation.

Meanwhile, all mobile retailers have been obligated by the provincial government to procure a passport-sized photograph of the person applying for a connection. At present a person can obtain a mobile connection only on submitting the photocopy of his national identity card along with the application form.

Police officials say that previously this condition was so lax that most criminals could procure the mobile connection without having valid documents. They point out that mobile phones are increasingly being used by terrorists, extortionists, kidnappers and criminals.

Officials working at the mobile companies confirm that they have been directed to get independent mobile retailers to follow a selling protocol which makes it binding on them to verify the addresses of the applicants, so that the retailers could be held responsible if a mobile connection is found to be used in an offence for which one may be punished by law.