Sim Registration
BTRC to launch retailer management guideline for telcos
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission is drafting a guideline for distributors and retailer management by the mobile phone companies for effective implementation of subscriber registration process. BTRC officials said the guideline will cover different aspects of subscribers registration by introducing central database of subscribers, handset detection system and fraud management system by the operators.
They said the BTRC is almost ready with the draft which will be placed before the commission after some adjustments.
The guideline would secure the distribution channel of the SIM card sales so that the mobile phone companies can track the activities of the point of sales retailer to ensure proper subscriber registration, said BTRC officials.
‘After introducing subscriber acquisition form we have seen that retailer and distributors do not maintain it properly. The operators do not have any standard procedure to monitor the distribution channel,’ said a senior BTRC official.
According to the draft guideline, police verification and business document verification would be mandatory for appointing distributors and retailers as the mobile phone companies will be liable for any non-compliance by them.
The guideline will specify the educational qualification of the distributors and retailers and the mobile phone companies have to provide identity cards for them and also maintain a permanent database of their distribution channel.
The mobile phone operator will also have to establish a central database of the subscribers which will be owned and managed by the BTRC.
The subscriber information on the central database shall be provided only to law enforcing agencies with a prior written request indicating the rank of the official and the purpose of the information.
The guideline also details out the fraud management system by introducing National Equipment Identification Registry which would be able to uniquely identify and block mobile handset devices which are invalid, counterfeit or cloned.
The NEIR would maintain a Blacklist, Grey List and White List of all mobile handsets and provide updates about those to the mobile operators and law enforcing agencies or other government agencies when necessary.
The mobile phone operators will also have to establish their own fraud detection system in order to use the NEIR effectively, said the guideline.
The operators can also charge a minimum amount of one time fees from the customers to register their devices to NEIR.
The draft guideline also said that the operators will have to introduce Online Configuration Portal which will be used by mobile phone subscribers against their unique number.
The OCP will be used as a personal profile of subscribers with their service utility and bill history where the subscribers can configure the activation, deactivation, usage, pattern selection and option selection of different products offered by the company.
-With New Age input
