Pakistan Telecommunication Authority permanently bans mobile number portability

In what appeared to be a severe blow for telecom companies as well as users, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued a notification to all mobile phone companies in Pakistan on Wednesday instructing them to immediately halt Mobile Number Portability (MNP) services.

The Ministry of Interior held a meeting, chaired by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, which issued a directive to PTA in addition to several instructions regarding unblocking of YouTube, permanent blocking of unregistered SIMs, Mobile Number Portability (MNP) and automated web locking.

Malik ordered a ban last Friday on the sale of unregistered mobile phone SIMs. “The PTA will block 5% of illegal SIMs in the due process. No change of network will be allowed and only ID cards and utility bills can validate the identity for issuing SIM cards,” the minister said.

He said that prepaid SIM cards will now be dispatched to buyers’ residential address and will not be sold directly from company outlets. The minister also assured that strict security measures will be implemented during the month of Muharram.

Chairing a meeting on the law and order situation, Malik said that the government has received threats of terrorism during Muharram and preemptive steps will be taking to tackle them.

In the meantime, the PTA has ordered companies to maintain five SIMs against one CNIC instead of 50 SIMs previously as directives of Supreme Court of Pakistan. There has been dozens of SIMs provided to an individual against one CNIC as the authority previously allowed a person to keep 50 SIMs of their choice and network.

The telecom watchdog has asked all operators to make adjustments of their subscribers and connections by November 30th and submit a comprehensive report of their connection and compliance of the directives.

The authority also directed cellular phone companies to submit the plan of regularizing extra SIMs in their stock by November 19 and ensure its implementation till December 30th.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=34979

Posted by Web Desk on Nov 15 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.