BERNE -(Dow Jones)- Switzerland's incumbent telephone operator, Swisscom AG (SCM), this week blocked some 130,000 prepaid mobile phone numbers because their owners failed to register them by an end-of-October deadline.
Company spokesman Sepp Huber said Swisscom was required by Swiss law to block the unregistered numbers. The law was implemented after it became known that Al Qaeda terrorists used Swiss prepaid SIM cards in the past because of their anonymity.
Swisscom had around 1.5 million prepaid customers at the end of September.
Company Web site: http://www.swisscom.com
-By Hans Schoemaker, Dow Jones Newswires; +41-43-4438045; hans.schoemaker@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires "
Posted to the site on 3rd December 2004
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/11362.php