The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has announced clarification on a new policy change to combat the issuance of illegal SIM cards and revised the process for issuing and activating SIM cards.
In the media, it was reported that for an individual, the second new SIM will be activated in seven days, a change from the previous eight hours.
The PTA announced that the first new SIM will still be issued and activated within eight hours. Additionally, a duplicate SIM card or number will follow the same timeframe. These procedure changes will take effect from January 24 and apply to all operators, customer service centres, franchisees, and retailers. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) is also set to implement these new SOPs.
The PTA’s decision aims to prevent the issuance of multiple SIMs to a single user in one day. This step comes in response to fake thumb impressions being used to acquire multiple SIMs daily. The authority noted that fraudsters often use these SIMs to install and discard WhatsApp. PTA officials believe that the new SOPs will reduce forgery and fraud cases.
