Any government initiative to stop the trade of unregistered SIM cards has little chance of success – unless the identities of the consumers could be verified using the national ID database, mobile operators have said.
During a meeting with operators and officials from the NID project at the BTRC office yesterday, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) officials discussed the possibility of introducing a smartphone-based software for biometric testing which can be cost-effectively deployed even in retailer level. If the idea gets a go-ahead, the BTRC may ask mobile operators to carry out the pilot project.
The meeting also discussed how biometric registration by mobile operators on a test basis failed to produce any positive results.
Requesting anonymity, a senior official of a mobile operator who was present at the meeting said it was difficult to sell registered SIMs without access to the national ID (NID) database.
However, Election Commission Secretary Shirajul Islam said: “We cannot provide NID data to anyone as it has confidential information of each citizen. If the mobile operators want access to NID database, they have to sign an agreement. Then the Election Commission will verify the registered SIM without giving them any data.”
Ekram Kabir, vice-president of Robi Axiata Limited, said: “We are helping the government at the beginning to stop illegal SIM registration. If we get access to the NID database, it would possible to ensure proper SIM registration.”
Saying that the stakeholders have been trying to find a solution to the stalemate since 2009, a BTRC official expressed hopes that a resolution may soon be achieved.
