Info Verification For Sim Registration
Telcos to pay BTRC system set-up cost for NID database access
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has decided that the mobile phone operators would bear the cost for installation of a system for access to national ID database for SIM registration verification. BTRC officials said the commission had also decided that the mobile phone operators would select a third-party vendor to purchase the solution and equipment for the NID access.
The BTRC in August 2013 got green signal from the Election Commission for accessing the national ID database to verify users’ data given by the mobile phone operators in a bid to stop fabricated information in SIM registration.
‘The commission has decided that the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh will be the main party in selecting vendor and purchasing equipment for the NID access,’ a senior BTRC official told New Age on Thursday.
Another BTRC official said that the commission’s decision to implement the project with private fund might create controversy as the NID database contains sensitive
information.
‘Earlier Bangladesh Bank and National Board of Revenue got the access but they implemented the system with their own fund without engaging any private party,’ he said.
The mobile phone operators stopped selling pre-activated SIM since October 2012 following a BTRC order.
The mobile companies are supposed to activate a SIM only after confirming the subscriber’s identity but because of the lack of NID access the operators cannot verify the information during a SIM registration.
The law enforcement agencies repeatedly asked the BTRC to stop fake registration of the SIM cards as such SIM cards are being used in illegal activities.
Asked about the issue, immediate past interim government adviser M Hafizuddin Khan told New Age that engaging private companies in the process would be ‘problematic’.
‘NID database is sensitive issue. If the BTRC allows the mobile operators to do everything on their own about the NID access, it might create security concern,’ he said.
Hafiz, who was also the former comptroller and auditor general, said that the issue needed further examination by the proper authorities.
Former election commissioner Muhammad Sakhawat Hussain, however, said that the security of NID database would depend on how much information would be accessible by the mobile operators.
‘If the mobile operators get access to basic information like name and father’s name of the SIM applicant, there might not be any security threat. It will depend on the contract between the BTRC and the EC,’ he said.
-With New Age input
