MADINAH, 21 January 2007 — The days of unregistered prepaid SIM cards are numbered if telephone companies using the mobile network in Saudi Arabia get their way.
Al-Madinah newspaper reported that the companies want to tighten up the supervision of documenting personal data of users of prepaid phone cards in the local market.
An official source in Mobily said that the move was in consideration of social and security issues. The number of mobile users in the Kingdom preferring prepaid cards was increasing with service providers competing to attract subscribers by providing huge discounts and the best offers.
Prepaid cards, the Mobily source added, were sold in large numbers without documenting subscriber information.
The source, however, did not give details about the campaign the service providers would mount.
“We are currently working on the details,” he said, adding that their main emphasis in the next phase was on the importance of guiding and spreading awareness among users.
Statistics indicate that the number of mobile phone subscribers in the Kingdom exceeds 15 million, of which an estimated 70 percent, or 10.5 million, was unregistered.
Sources from companies that work in the telecommunication market confirmed that despite having a pledge signed by companies providing the service to have all sales outlets acquire personal information of subscribers of prepaid cards that is not always the case.
Part of the problem is that many prepaid cards are sold from unofficial outlets or that the outlets are not registered with a phone company.
An agent working in the Saudi Telecom Company in Madinah, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, “Companies are focusing now on acquiring the information and personal data of every subscriber to prepaid cards.”
