The trial run of biometric registration for mobile phone SIMs was inaugurated yesterday by Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT adviser to the prime minister, at the secretariat.
Joy launched the process at the Posts and Telecommunications Division office by becoming the first customer to carry out his biometric registration by purchasing a SIM from state-owned mobile phone operator Teletalk.
Telecom Division Secretary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury Teletalk Managing Director Giasuddin Ahmed handed over the SIM to Joy, who paid for it from his own wallet.
“I am feeling very proud today as Bangladesh became the second country in the world to adopt the biometric system of registering mobile SIM,” said the adviser.
“I gave some advices and you people implemented it. I had a dream to do something for the people of this soil by implementing Digital Bangladesh,” he added.
According to the latest BTRC statistics, there are 13.14 crore active mobile phone subscribers in Bangladesh. All the subscribers will have to go through the biometric registration process.
At the inauguration ceremony, Tarana Halim, state minister for posts and telecommunication division, said that after the trial run is completed, biometric identification for existing SIMs would begin on December 16.
On Tuesday, Tarana told journalist that all biometric SIM registration processes are to be completed by March next year; otherwise, mobile operators must face a $50 penalty for each unverified SIM.
After meeting with all mobile operator CEOs on September 10, Tarana Halim issued directives to all operators to start the process of SIM re-registration from September 13.
Users would get three months’ time to re-register their SIM cards, after which all unregistered SIMs would be blocked.