Mobile phone verification to start

Mobile phone operators and related regulatory bodies will soon start to verify the authenticity of the personal information provided by consumers on the purchase of mobile connections by cross checking it with their national identity cards.
The election commission (EC) has said that it would provide all necessary assistance to the authorities for this purpose.
Meanwhile, the home ministry, in a bid to tackle threats and extortion over mobile phones, warned that stern action would be taken if users are found to be providing false addresses when they register their Subscriber Identity Modules (SIM) or Removable User Identity Modules (RUIM).
Following an announcement by the home ministry that it wanted action to be taken on this issue, the EC organised a meeting on Thursday to decide on what it should do. The meeting was participated by officials of at least ten government bodies including the secretariat, home ministry and Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory (BTRC).
Representatives of mobile phone operators- Grameen Phone, Robi, Bangla Link, Warid Telecom and Teletalk – were also present.
Election commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told bdnews24.com: “According to the National Identity Registration Act, the commission is allowed to provide necessary information if asked.”
However, a decision is yet to be taken on the mode of the verification as the central information bank is still under construction, he said.
The commission will finalise the matter in a future meeting.
Section 13 of the National Identity Registration Act says that individuals and institutions can apply to the commission for any required information, and the commission can provide the information if it deems the query valid and various conditions are met
The voter registration project has enlisted personal information of around 8.5 crores people aged above 18 to provide the national identity cards.
According to BTRC, the rough number of mobile connection subscribers was 5.99 crores on Jun 30.
“People under 18 will not be allowed to use mobile phones. Parents’ SIM can only be used in emergency,” state minister for home affairs Shamsul Hoque Tuku said last month following a meeting arranged by a committed concerned with preventing threats and extortion over mobile phones.
The government has been trying to control the use of mobile phone connections because of the increase of crimes committed utilising the phones.
“Steps will be taken against SIMs registered through false information,” home secretary Abdus Sobhan Shikder said in reply to a query.
The EC secretariat’s additional secretary Rafiqul Islam told bdnews24.com: “Organisations will currently have offline access to the information stored in the central information bank as it is still under development. Access can be made on-line once the bank starts functioning.”
Each verification centre will need a laptop, a desktop, software, a bar code reader and a finger print scanner, he added.
“The tendency to provide false information during SIM and RUIM registration will be stopped if they are activated only after proper verification of the user’s personal information. No one will be able to make threats over the phone if identified previously,” he further added.
Voter registration project officials said that work is ongoing to bring the central information bank online from the start of next year.
“Different initiatives have been taken to prevent threat and extortion over mobile phones,” home minister Sahara Khatun said. “A draft of a mobile connection subscription registration policy has already been formulated.”
On Jul 7, the home ministry ordered mobile phone operators to submit a list of their connection distributors and retailers to BTRC by Sep 30.

Courtesy of bdnews24.com