LAHORE: As subscribers are thronging the cellular companies outlets for biometric re-verification of their existing pre-paid connections, about 60,000 retail and temporary outlets have been strictly barred from selling new (pre-paid) SIMs till mid of April.

The government has given a three-month deadline (Jan 13 to April 13) to the five operators – Mobilink, Ufone, Telenor, Warid and Zong - to re-verify 103 million prepaid connections through Biometric Verification System (BVS).

Also read: Scrutiny of 103m unverified SIMs begins

The operators’ customers service centers and the franchises, about 1,500 in number allover the country, will, however, continue issuing new pre-paid SIMs under BVS.

A Pakistan Telecommunication Authority official told Dawn the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) had been directed not to entertain any ‘new request’ from any retailer of the operators to verify new SIMs through BVS to check issuance of new prepaid SIMs at retail level till April 13, this year.

“In case some retailers indulge in issuing new connections without the knowledge of their operator the Nadra check will thwart it,” he said.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB), along with PTA, will carry out joint technical audit of the SIMs re-verification. “After the expiry of the deadline, if any non-BVS verified SIM is found or reported to be operating, the respective mobile phone operator will be held responsible.”

In order to discourage unnecessary re-verification attempts, a re-verification fee of Rs10 per CNIC will be charged from the subscribers. Nadra re-verification fee would be Rs10 per BVS transaction.

On the other hand, the operators in a joint statement said: “The industry has so far invested $25 million on the provision of around 60,000 BVS devices and (another) Rs22 billion on previous mandatory verification processes with another significant amount to be spent on this re-verification exercise to enhance the availability of these BVS devices across Pakistan.”

“Despite having reservations on the execution plan for this huge exercise, the industry, like always, has agreed to the requirement of the government under the National Action Plan for carrying out SIMs re-verification through BVS within 90 days and will put its best efforts to try and complete this herculean task within the stipulated time.

The Industry’s volunteer support for the measures to maintain the national security in view of the prevalent law and order situation should be recognised accordingly. The cellular industry has always been at the forefront in terms of cooperation with the government and security agencies in national security matters, and will continue its efforts in light of the prevailing security situation.”

The PTA says there has been no unregistered SIM as all have been registered against valid CNICs. “However, the unauthorised SIMs issued without the knowledge of the CNIC holders are a matter of concern, triggering the need for re-verification of SIMs through BVS.”

A telecom expert Dawn spoke to said it would be interesting to see what excuse the PTA would find if this system did not prove fruitful like the previous ones at the end of the day.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2015

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