CITC: Zero tolerance for unregistered mobile SIMs

Unregistered SIM cards are still being sold locally despite a ban by the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), the country’s telecommunications regulatory authority.
The government recently introduced regulations requiring all subscribers to recharge their prepaid SIM cards by providing their identity card numbers or residency permit numbers. The measure is aimed at stopping people from dealing with and circulating unregistered SIM cards.
A number of mobile phone shops in Jeddah were found selling these unregistered cards to the public. Some traders were selling special numbers for up to SR 200 each.
Sultan Al-Malik, spokesman for the CITC, appealed to citizens and residents to report these traders to the police or the CITC.
He said the CITC is also monitoring cards that show the identification numbers of citizens and residents but which were obtained illegally. “We did close down a number of stores dealing with these cards, or with cards that do not show the particulars of the people using them,” he said.
First Lt. Nawaf Al-Bouq, spokesman for Jeddah police, said the police regularly inspect mobile shops suspected of selling these illegal cards. “We did apprehend a large number of the promoters who also had no residence permits. We confiscated a large number of prepaid SIMs which were being circulated against the regulations by citizens and residents,” he said.
“Sometimes people who want to buy SIM cards use aliases or just provide any name. They are not aware of the gravity of the problem,” he said.
The CITC’s latest figures show there were about 53 million subscribers in the Kingdom at the end of 2012, with around 86 percent on prepaid contracts.
Luay Al-Tayyar, an economist, said “mobile operators will surely benefit from the ban on unregistered SIM cards because this will constrain the movement to other neighboring markets.”