Completely handle junk SIM cards before April 15

Accordingly, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung assigned Deputy Minister Nguyen Huy Dung to direct the Telecommunications Department to prepare and submit a document informing mobile telecommunications companies of the ministry's stance on resolutely addressing the problem of unregistered SIM cards.

The Ministry of Information and Communications requires telecommunications businesses to complete the process of removing all remaining SIM cards and converting them to SIM cards without subscriber information (with or without service packages). This ensures that subscriber SIM cards are accurate, comply with regulations, match the national population database, and can only be activated or newly registered by the network operators themselves.

Pre-activated SIM cards are sold to consumers. Photo: AN NA

The Minister also requested that telecommunications companies, before March 22nd, convert SIM cards that are currently locked in both directions to a state of "SIM cards with no subscriber information". Before April 15th, SIM cards that are locked in one direction and show signs of pre-activation must be converted to a state of "SIM cards with no subscriber information"; at the same time, they must complete the processing of subscriber groups with multiple SIM cards registered under one document (4 or more SIM cards per document).

Following a series of drastic measures to address the problem of unregistered SIM cards, from April 15th, mobile telecommunications companies will be held fully responsible if any newly developed SIM cards that do not comply with regulations appear on the market.

In cases where violations are detected, such as SIM cards containing subscriber information being held in storage, the Ministry's inspectors will conduct inspections and handle the violations, potentially considering the highest level of action, which is suspending the development of new subscribers. The Ministry of Information and Communications will consider issuing a written warning to the heads of the businesses and reporting to the Prime Minister for appropriate disciplinary action.

Earlier, speaking at the quarterly meeting on state management in the third quarter of 2023, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized that the ultimate goal is to eliminate "junk" SIM cards that affect people's security.

The minister affirmed that effectively addressing the issue of unregistered SIM cards will certainly help businesses reduce costs and increase the revenue of telecommunications companies by many trillions of dong.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/xu-ly-dut-diem-sim-rac-truc-ngay-15-4-196240315204952768.htm