Bangladesh's mobile phone operators are starting a process of re-registering some 10 million subscribers following a directive from the telecoms regulator last month to increase the proof of identity necessary to own a mobile phone. The operators have two months to re-register all 10 million customers otherwise they will be faced with disconnection.
The directive from the regulator requires each subscriber to provide two passport photographs, proof of address and fingerprints. The operators face fines of US$10 per subscriber they connect without these details being taken.
All subscribers who purchased mobile phone subscriptions from Grameenphone, Aktel, Banglalink, Citycell and Teletalk before February 28, 2006, will need to visit the customer care centres by the end of October, which considering the floods and disruption in the country at the moment may prove problematic.
As with most other countries which have enforced proof of identity for mobile phone subscriptions, the regulator cited alleged use of mobile phones by terrorists as the reason for the clamp down.
According to figures from The Mobile World, Bangladesh had some 11.7 million subscribers at the end of March 2006, just one month after the registration cut-off date. The country now has 27.7 million subscribers.
Posted to the site on 16th August 2007
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/25473.php