More than two million SIMs have been blocked across the country under a campaign launched by the government for authentication of details of mobile phone subscribers.
Earlier this month the government gave Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) 91 days to verify 103 million SIMs issued before August last year but not verified through the Biometric Verification System (BVS).
National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication which met here on Wednesday was informed that a joint working group formed by the Ministry of Interior had been working on the process since Jan 12 last year. The group comprises members from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Information Technology, Nadra, Federal Investigation Authority, Intelligence Bureau, mobile phone operators and PTA.
Since the exercise began on Jan 12 this year, PTA has re-verified 8.72 million connections. The three-month period to verify mobile phone connections through the BVS expires on April 13.
“Three months is not realistic time for such an uphill task but such are the directions from the Ministry of Interior,” PTA Chairman Dr Ismail Shah told the standing committee. According to earlier schedule, the job was to be completed in a year.
