Ministry to crack down on unregistered pre-paid subscribers

The Ministry of Information and Communications will stop the operation of pre-paid mobile phone subscribers who do not register personal information or have provided incorrect details.

 

The ministry had issued a circular on the management of pre-paid mobile phone subscribers which took effect from June 1. However, to date, a large number of subscribers have not yet registered their information.

The Ministry of Information and Communication has recently checked pre-paid subscribers with Viettel, MobiFone and VinaPhone in Hanoi and Danang and discovered some 1.3 million or 25% of all those checked had provided inaccurate personal information.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has also transferred the personal information of five million pre-paid subscribers in HCM City to the municipal police who will be checking to see if the information submitted is correct.

The Ministry of Information and Communications started checking subscribers’ personal information in 2010, but the work has been carried out at a snail’s pace.

The ministry requested mobile phone service providers to upgrade their systems to more efficiently manage subscribers. The providers are encouraged to use post offices for subscriber information registration. They also have been instructed to tighten control over SIM card distributors and pre-paid subscribers.

From September 1, Hanoi will start operation of subscriber information registration offices. Mobile phone service operators must pass on registrations to the city Department of Information and Communications before September 15. On December 1, operators will instruct subscriber to update their personal information on a website.

Nguyen Xuan Tru, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Information and Communications’ Telecommunications Department cited the government’s website when asked about the need for such a stringent registration process, saying that pre-paid subscriber management is aimed at preventing spam text messaging and malicious phone calls.

The registration is also aimed at dealing with a situation in which telecom companies are racing to offer attractive promotions to encourage customers to buy new SIMs which are only used for the duration of the offer.

Telecom companies have proposed the ministry issue more operator codes as they have claimed they are running out of numbers, but it was met by a dismissal from the ministry who claimed the problem was due to companies ‘wasting’ the numbers.

By Khoi Linh | dtinews.vn