KARACHI, July 20: The twice extended deadline given to mobile phone companies for putting a check on the sale of unregistered SIMs (subscriber identity modules) and completion of subscribers’ database is likely to lapse again despite persistent pressure from the telecoms watchdog and security authorities to fulfil the requirement by July 30.

The city, which is home to the largest number of unregistered cellular phone users, still offers connections at unauthorised places, where vendors do not ask buyers to meet the legal formalities.

In random visits to commercial and residential areas, Dawn spotted dozens of vendors, shopkeepers, paan-walas and other unauthorised dealers selling cellphone connections of almost all the five mobile phone companies operating in the country.

“We have only heard that some action is being taken, but there is no negative effect on our business so far,” said a shopkeeper in Saddar. He said the connections were being sold with no intimation from any side, though the shopkeepers would avoid any such move from police or other parties.

The shopkeeper was seen selling connections without fulfilling certain requirements as defined by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in consent with the mobile phone companies.

“We ask for copies of identity cards from them (buyers) but hardly anyone turns up with a positive response. In fact we acquire these SIMs (subscriber identity modules) from regular franchises of the companies where we meet the requirement. So it is not mandatory for resale of these SIMs,” he explained.

Irregular sale of connections was also witnessed in Orangi Town, North Nazimabad, Malir, Shah Faisal Colony and Clifton, where commercial centres, shopping malls and retail shops were offering cellphone connections as a secondary business.

Security threat

The senate’s standing committee on interior, a couple of months ago, came up with directives for registration of all cellular subscribers across the country, believing that nearly seven million unregistered cellphone subscribers was a threat to the country’s security. After consultation with cellular companies and the telecoms regulator, the committee set May 22 as a deadline to block unregistered SIMs, which was not met.

Since then the committee has extended the deadline twice with July 31 as the last revised date for the cellular companies to complete the registration.

The authorities – realising the situation – have come up with the explanation that efforts are under way to put a cap on such practices.

“This is an ongoing process and we are very much determined to achieve the desired results in the shortest possible time,” said a PTA spokesman. “We are gathering data, information and details regarding illegal sale of SIMs and being assisted by the local police to bust such operations,” he added.

The country started witnessing a phenomenal jump in cellular subscribers from 2004, when two foreign cellular service providers launched their operations and triggered a competition, which led to more than 88 million users of mobile phone services across the country by June 2008.

The PTA data shows that Mobilink leads the market share with nearly 32.03 million subscribers across the country followed by Ufone with 18.1 million users. The Norwegian company Telenor enjoys a total of 18.12 million subscribers, while 15.48 million people use the service of the UAE’s Warid.

China Mobile’s Zong attracted some 3.95 million subscribers by June 2008, says the PTA data. The authorities, however, say the rules are violated by almost all the companies, posing a serious challenge for the law-enforcement agencies.

“We would definitely consider action against companies that fail to block unregistered SIMs despite the warning and the extended deadline,” said Senator Talha Mahmood Aryan, chairman of the standing committee on interior.

“We have repeatedly asked the companies and their subscribers to get themselves registered. But if they ignore such warnings and their subscribers insist on using illegal connections, we are justified in moving against them.”