Cellular phone operators of the country are going to get access to the Election Commission’s database by March next to verify the subscriber’s information before activating new connections, said officials. They said telecom regulator has almost finalised different issues with the Election Commission for using the database of the national ID. Talking to the news agency, Sunil Kanti Bose, chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said the EC has given its consent to allow the cellular phone operators to its database.
‘We are optimistic that the operators would get access to the EC’s database from next month to verify the subscriber’s information before activating new connections,’ he added.
The BTRC chairman hoped the database will help recognise the real identity of the subscribers of the new mobile connections.
Bose said main server for using the database will be set up in the Bangladesh Computer Council while the BTRC will have a link to monitor the process.
Replying to a query, the regulatory body chairman said, ‘We will sit with the operators immediately to finalise the process of using the database.’
The operators will have to pay fees for using the EC’s database on voters, he added.
The Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue currently uses the database after having signed an MOA with the EC.
Earlier, posts, telecommunications and information technology minister Abdul Latif Siddique after taking charge of the ministry told the representatives of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators Bangladesh that ‘Initiatives are being taken so that the operators can confirm a subscriber’s identity by checking with the database on voters before they activate a new connection.’
The telecom regulator has stopped selling ‘Pre-activated SIM since October, 2012.
Operators are supposed to activate a SIM only after confirming the subscriber’s identity, according to the order by BTRC.
National ID or any other photo-identity provided by the government is now essential to obtain a mobile telephone connection.
However, incidents of using fake IDs have been reported frequently. Law enforcing agencies say these types of connections are being often used for criminal activities.
-With New Age input
