Maximum 15 SIM cards allowed for one user

A person will now be allowed to register and use a maximum of 15 SIM cards with own national identity (NID) card, said Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Secretary Sarwar Alam yesterday.

This is a three-time increase from the government's last decision of allowing up to five SIM cards for each user.

On June 12, 2016, the government decided to allow each consumer to use a maximum of 20 SIM cards and on last August 4, they decided to cut the number down to five.

BTRC took the latest decision under the instruction of high-level authorities of the government, he said, adding that the BTRC also directed the chief executives of all mobile operators regarding the matter.

BTRC will close the numbers randomly after December 31, if anyone is found using over 15 SIM cards against one national identity card, Sarwar told the news agency.

Consumers who have more than 15 SIM cards are urged to deactivate their extra contact numbers within December 31, he added.

According to BTRC, as it is not realistic to determine SIM card numbers of corporate consumers, so people who have corporate permission to buy SIM or RIM will be out of this purview.

Consumers can find out about the numbers of SIM cards they have against their passports, NID cards, driving licences or birth certificates in two ways -- by dialing *16001# and sending the last four digits of NID number when asked through USSD code, or by sending SMS containing the last four digits of NID number to 16001.