ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) warned citizens on Wednesday against buying, selling or using illegal foreign SIM cards, citing security, privacy and legal risks.
The regulator said unauthorised connections could expose users’ identities and sensitive financial information to misuse, according to an advisory.
PTA advised consumers to obtain mobile connections only from authorised franchises. Subscribers should also register each SIM in their own name through biometric verification.
The warning follows earlier enforcement action against the illegal international SIM trade. PTA and the Federal Investigation Agency seized thousands of pre-activated international SIM cards during raids across six Pakistani cities in February 2025.
In a separate reminder, PTA said telecom operators could deactivate connections that remain unused for 180 consecutive days. The inactivity period covers SIMs with no incoming or outgoing calls, text messages or mobile-data usage.
The regulator said operators could subsequently assign deactivated numbers to new customers. Former subscribers would lose any legal claim to a number after it is reassigned.
Read: PTA Network Upgrade May Disrupt Mobile Registration
PTA advised subscribers to use their connections periodically to prevent deactivation and unexpected loss of their mobile numbers.
