BTRC limits Only 5 SimCard for customers, BTRC said, No More Than 5 Sims per Customer from now.
The days of using numerous SIMs are over. Now BTRC is taking steps to limit cell phone connections per customer in the country. Once new regulations come into effect, the number of SIMs that a person can own will be limited to five.
BTRC source says, the commission has already sent a proposal to Prime Minister’s office for approval. The commission hopes to curtail criminal activities done through huge number of SIMs as well as ensure proper use of existing numbers.
The step will not only reduce criminal activities using multiple SIMs but will also enable the sector to get a more accurate estimate on the total mobile phone users in the country. But stakeholders believe, the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service – changing mobile operator while keeping the phone number – should be implemented urgently. Otherwise any statistics and data collected will not be able to provide proper direction in policy making for the sector.
BTRC announced that the number of cellphone connection from six active cellphone operators has reached 12 crore 37 lakh by the end of March, among which Grameenphone has 5 crore 20 lakh, Banglalink 3 crore19 lakh, Robi 2 crore 62 lakh 89 thousand, Airtel 81 lakh 85 thousand, Teletalk 40 lakh 41 thousand and Citycell has 12 lakh 46 thousand subscribers.
On this note, BTRC announced that the number of cellphone connection from six active cellphone operators has reached 12 crore 37 lakh by the end of March, among which Grameenphone has 5 crore 20 lakh, Banglalink 3 crore19 lakh, Robi 2 crore 62 lakh 89 thousand, Airtel 81 lakh 85 thousand, Teletalk 40 lakh 41 thousand and Citycell has 12 lakh 46 thousand subscribers.
The commission has collected the data based on active connections. However, this is not the actual customer number for the operators.
On the other hand, GSM – the international organization for cellphone operators – estimates that even though there are 12 crore cellphone connections in the country, the actual total for unique subscribers is around 7 crore.
The limit on the number of connections per subscriber is in place in several countries around the world. India, for example, has set the number to maximum 9 in the country.
Back in 2012, the commission took steps against using cell phone connections without registration but concerned groups in the sectors believe criminal activities are still going on using mobile connection through fraudulent registration.