Tarana Halim, state minister for posts and telecommunications, yesterday said the government is going to start mobile handset registration from February next year.
“The regulatory body, BTRC, will soon issue a directive in this regard. In line with the biometric SIM registration, the government would ensure digital identity of mobile handsets,” said Tarana.
The Junior minister was speaking at an inaugural ceremony of biometric SIM registration held at Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
Dr Shahjahan Mahmood, chairman of BTRC, and other high-ups of the commission, were present at the programme.
Tarana Halim said to ensure public safety and security, both handset and biometric SIM registration is a must.
The government is determined to achieve this goal one by one and after completing both the tasks, it would be easier for law enforcement agencies to protect public life, added the junior minister.
According to a statistics, on average 20 lakh handsets and 20,000 pieces of tablet are being imported in the country every month. Of the import, smartphones account for 21%.
Earlier on October 21, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT adviser to the prime minister, inaugurated a trial SIM registration process with biometric identification.
The pilot project, however, kicked off across the country on November 1 despite the fact that mobile operators faced difficulties during the trial run of the project.
“The government has solved all the problems for running the biometric SIM registration process smoothly,” according to the Post & Telecom Ministry.
Being the second country in the world, Bangladesh has initiated the human body-based identifying system to curb crimes using mobile phone.
All biometric SIM registration processes must be completed by March next year, or else, mobile operators have to face $50 penalty against each unverified SIM, an official of BTRC told the Dhaka Tribune.
According to the latest BTRC statistics, there are over 13 crore active mobile phone subscribers in Bangladesh.
All users will get a three-month time to register their SIMs. Unless registered within the stipulated time, all unregistered SIMs will be blocked.
The Telecommunications Division will monitor the update of SIM registration process.