No Buying Phones without Biometrics | No SIM to be activated without biometric identification after July 31

Pakistan intends to become the latest country to require the biometric registration of SIM Cards. SIM stands for Subscriber Identity Module and is the card within a mobile phone that makes the phone unique. It identifies the user on the cellular system so that the calls to and from the device are properly routed as well as many other services to make the phone compatible with the cellular system.

Nigeria and India have biometric SIM registration programs in various stages of implementation as well. The Pakistan program is the most aggressive. They want their program to be fully in place by July 31. The stated objective of the program is the prevention of terrorism and crime. Although, they fail to remember that terrorism and crime existed before the use of cell phones. This is also part of the move to a cashless system in which people will be identified by an unique biometrically registered device. In this way all commerce will be tracked and controlled.

No SIM to be activated without biometric identification after July 31

ISLAMABAD: The government and the five cellular service providing companies active in Pakistan signed an agreement on Friday under which, no new Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) will be issued after July 31, 2014, without verifying the biometric identity of the applicant from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA)’s biometric system.

The new agreement signed on Friday has resolved a two year row between the government and cellular service providers who had been resisting the move.

Chairman NADRA and the CEOs of Ufone, Mobilink, Zong, Warid and Telenor all signed the agreement. Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Dr Syed Ismail Shah witnessed the signing ceremony.

Before the agreement was signed, NADRA chairman Imtiaz Tajwar gave a detailed briefing to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on the salient features of the accord.

Under the agreement, NADRA, which maintains biometric record of citizens, will assist cellular companies to verify authenticity of every new applicant before activating their SIM card.

Per the agreement, cellular companies will bear the cost of procuring biometric machines and install them at their respective franchises and retailers.

Furthermore, NADRA will charge cellular companies Rs10 for each biometric verification.

“Biometric based SIM verification will provide better technological support to law enforcement agencies, thus improving the security situation in the country” interior ministry quoted the minister as saying in its press statement.

As per the new system, nobody will be able to buy a new SIM without going through biometric verification process, the statement added.

The Minister asked NADRA and the cellular companies to devise a mechanism for clearing a heavy backlog of unverified SIMs in the country.

Cellular service providing companies had been resisting use of biometrics for SIM verifications mainly due to cost and other technical issues. They claimed that they get a copy of CNIC issued by NADRA from an applicant and it should serve the purpose.

Another contentious issue between the government and the influential cellular companies is re-verification of every existing SIM user. There are around 129.6 million SIM users in the country.

Among these SIMs, millions are “unverified” SIMs. Blocking them will affect the revenue of the telecom companies.

An official of the interior ministry told The Express Tribune that once the new mechanism for SIMs’ verifications will put in place across the country by July 31, a deadline will be given against unverified and re-verification of existing SIMs.

Use of unregistered mobile SIMs in terrorist and other unlawful activities had been a major concern for the government.

The authorities hope that once the new system is in place, issuance of mobile phone SIMs on fake identity would not be possible.

NADRA claims it has biometric data of over 96% of total adult population of the country which can be used to keep record of every SIM user.

The authority said it has already demonstrated the new Biometric Verification Systems services and applications before the PTA and telecom operators last year.

Starting from December 1, last year when it gave demos at franchises in Karachi, it has tested its system at the retailer level in April this year.

Provide biometric verification for your new SIM

As per the requirement of biometric verification system, each citizen has to go to the retailer, franchise or customer service centers of respective cellular operators and provide their biometric data for verification against their CNIC data that is held with NADRA.

After successful transaction, the customer’s new SIM will be activated.

The complete operation will be online and is supposed to take 15 seconds to complete.
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