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Pakistan: Government blocks over 10 million mobile numbers Print E-mail
Friday, 10 October 2008
About 10.5 million mobile connections in Pakistan have been blocked because operating companies failed to follow procedures to establish the identity of users, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said.

Mobile operators are required to register all customers in order to make it more difficult for criminals and militants to communicate. Disconnecting the unverified numbers has been carried out in phases throughout 2008 to give operators time to analyze their records. The PTA says that, "after considerable efforts 10.5 million connections have been blocked so far".

Customers are required to show their national identity cards when they buy a SIM card for mobile service, but it is common to purchase cards from kiosks without providing identification. A parliamentary committee has often objected to the open sale of SIMs.

PTA officials met with executives from all mobile operators to review progress and noted considerable improvement in companies' customer verification processes. However, PTA chairman Mohammed Yaseen said that he doubted there could be full compliance until the sale of ready to use SIMs was stopped, and recommended that SIMs should only be activated once they are registered and the buyer's name has been checked by the National Database and Registration Authority.

The total number of mobile users in Pakistan passed 90 million in August, according to the PTA.

Source: Reuters - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.