Telecom operators are facing trouble selling SIM cards due to a technical glitch in the National Identity card registration server of the Election Commission.
The fingerprints of a buyer are recorded during a sale. That print is matched with the NID server to verify the authenticity of the information provided by the buyer. But the operators have not been able to provide any service related to mobile SIM cards due to a problem in the NID server of the Election Commission for the last two days.
Amtob, the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh, wrote to the commission on Monday to resolve the matter.
The letter states that mobile phone operators are connected to the Election Commission server 24 hours a day. But since Sunday evening, there has been a problem accessing the server. This problem has been going on for 18 hours. The issue was not resolved till Tuesday evening.
For the past few months, this problem has been happening occasionally, the letter added.
It is reported that operators are not able to provide services such as SIM activation, SIM replacement, MNP, ownership change, roaming services, cancellation of SIM registration, SIM closure and prepaid to post-paid migration due to an outage in the Election Commission's database server.
Amtob Secretary General Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Mohammad Zulfikar said: "Due to the problem in the NID server, there is an issue in providing biometric services."
When asked, National Identity Card Division (NID) Director (Operation) Yunus Ali said that there is no problem with their main server. NID correction and downloads are all being done. However, the IT department can tell whether the server is down, or whether there is any other problem.
The problem may be solved by Wednesday, according to sources.
