The government will fine mobile operators Grameenphone (GP) and Airtel, as pre-activated subscriber identity modules (SIMs), registered in the names of other persons, have been selling in the market. The fine would be USD 50 per SIM which was illegally pre-activated because such SIMs can be used for illegal purposes, such as committing crimes.
In a drive in the capital recently, the police arrested seven retailers for allegedly selling pre-activated SIMs, registered in the name of other persons, and seized 13 such SIMs from their possession. Nine of these belonged to Grameenphone and four to Airtel.
The police said cases would be filed against the seven under Section 73 of the telecom Act for selling pre-activated SIMs.
State minister for posts and telecommunications, Tarana Halim, told The Independent that she had a meeting at her office at the Secretariat yesterday (Thursday) with chief executive officers (CEOs) of the country’s six mobile operators, and expressed her concern over the sale of such pre-activated SIMs.
“No more pre-activated SIMS should be available in the market. If found, the operator will be fined USD 50 per SIM,” she said.
She further said the police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) would conduct drives against such illegally pre-activated SIMs across the country from today.
“By July 7, all the six mobile operators would send written text messages to their subscribers saying that such and such number of SIMs is biometrically registered in their name. If they have any complaint, they should inform the respective operators,” she said.
The minister said: “We’re passing through a hard time. We’ve successfully completed the biometrically verified programme that has brought 110.60 million registered subscribers under it. So, we can’t allow anybody to destroy such an achievement by selling pre-activated SIMs with false documents.”
The government has also decided that the mobile operators would provide full information of the hired persons who used the devices for biometric verification programme within 15 days to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). “We are positive about the results of the biometric programme. It has been possible to curb mobile-based illegal activities to a large extent. The Gulshan zone police told me that earlier they used to detect six to seven mobile-related illegal activities, but now the number has decreased to one,” she added.
When contacted over the matter, Sayed Talat Kamal, Head of External Communications of Grameenphone, said in an e-mail communiqué that the issue did not pertain only to his organisation but to all other operators as well. “This is an issue that is not isolated to Grameenphone alone. We have taken all possible measures to comply with the regulatory directives on SIM registration, particularly at the retailer level. After receiving the details from the regulator, we will be able to assess if any retail channel(s) has done anything wrong,” he said.

When contacted, Shamit Mahbub Shahabuddin, head of PR and IC, Airtel Bangladesh Limited, in an e-mail communiqué said: "We have blocked all unregistered SIM on 00.01 hours of 1st June, 2016 as per the direction of BTRC. Airtel Bangladesh Limited has always maintained the highest level of legal and regulatory governance and will continue to do so."