ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: Telecommunication companies will block some 4.7 million unauthorised SIMs (subscriber identity modules) to stop their use in terrorist activities.

Sources in the Ministry of Interior told Dawn that the decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held here with Interior Secretary Chaudhry Qamar Zaman in the chair.

The meeting was informed that so far 121m SIMs had been issued, with cellular companies claiming that 116.3m of them had been registered.

It was decided that Nadra would provide telecommunication companies access to its database to verify biometrics of applicants before issuing new SIMs in future.