The third and final phase for re-verification of SIMs through Biometric Verification System (BVS) has been initiated, he added. Till date about 70 million SIMs have been verified against 54 million CNICs and 11 million SIMs have been blocked/disowned across the country. The telecom companies are making all-out efforts to re-verify the rest of SIMs before the end of the final deadline, he added.
He said the roaming on Afghan SIMs has been blocked. The foreigners in the country are allowed to have only two SIMs per ID and SOPs would be finalised to re-verify the SIMs issued to them earlier without verification. The PTA Chairman said that the blocked SIMs would not be registered in any citizen's name for at least six months. However, the SIMs used by overseas Pakistanis would be blocked, but it could not be registered on other names for one year. He further clarified that roaming SIMs with overseas Pakistanis would not be blocked.
Shah further said that blocking of re-verification of SIMs would help in reducing grey-trafficking as all un-verified SIMs would be blocked. The PTA chairman lauded the on-going efforts of the cellular operators and stated, "PTA in collaboration with the five telecom companies has taken all measures to ensure accomplishment of the government's National Action Plan. All the five telecom operators and their franchises and retail network played a pivotal role in meeting the deadline. As per the guidelines of Ministry of Interior (MoI), the final deadline would not be extended, which is also in the best interest of the country.
The PTA chairman further said that in a bid to support government's role in countering terrorism, the telecom industry deployed 15,000 new biometric machines for the SIM re-verification drive in addition to 65,000 which were deployed earlier by all five operators. These machines have been handed over to various retailers across Pakistan in a move which is providing easy access to consumers in all regions. The telecom operators have also come up with various innovative methods to reach maximum number of people before the extended deadline through reach out programs where biometric re-verification teams visit government organisations, universities, press clubs and other similar organisations as well as door to door re-verification.
Michael Foley CEO Telenor said that SIMs re-verification through BVS is very important for police in investigation, but at the same time very expensive where telecom operators suffered a lot. He further said that it was unusual process but all the stakeholders are working as a team which made it possible. He further said that Telenor invested $600 million this year on upgradation of its overall network and system. Telecom operators spent about $25000-30000 million on deployment of devices for the re-verification of SIMs.
Jeffrey Hedberg President and CEO Mobilink termed it a gigantic task keeping in view the prevailing critical security situation in the country. Naveed Khalid Butt Chief Officer Government and Regulatory Affairs Ufone said that SIMs verification through BVS was the first-ever largest venture undertaken by any country in the world. He rejected the notion of deployment of substandard devices for verification. Liu Dianfeng Chairman and CEO Zong and Farid Ahmad Chief Strategy Officer Warid also termed the re-verification process very critical and important and extended their support to the government in this regard.