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Thailand Cracks Down on Sim Card 30 Day Registration
Thailand’s Mobile phone operators who fail to comply with rules on the SIM card registration within 30 days will be fined one million baht per day, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) announced yesterday.
According to Sutisak Tantayotin, Deputy Secretary-General of the NBTC, the move aims to prevent call center gangs from purchasing SIM cards for the purpose of scamming customers.
NBTC issued the instruction after finding that a mobile phone operator failed to comply with its rule that one person can register no more than five numbers at any one dealer.
The NBTC declined to reveal the name of the mobile phone operator. However, it was reported that the number of customers exceeded the SIM card registration limit of the shop owned by that operator.
In order to register more numbers, an individual must present their ID card to the operator’s service center. This rule was set up in order to prevent call center scam gang members from using other people’s ID cards in order to purchase SIM cards and register the numbers for the scams.
Sim Card Registration Database
In 2018, Thailand required anyone purchasing a SIM card in the country to register their fingerprints or facial scans in a government database. The database is maintained by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission stores fingerprints and facial scans associated with SIM cards.
NBTC brought up the issue of better regulation of mobile phone service providers in the meeting to protect consumers.
In the event they fail to comply within 30 days, they will be fined one million baht ($27,400.00) on a daily basis.
As a first step, the meeting came to a conclusion that a minimum fine of around one million baht per day would be set, the deputy secretary-general said.
In a meeting held on Wednesday, 11 agencies participated in a multilateral team meeting to address call center scams, including the NBTC, the personal data protection committee, the Bank of Thailand, the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD), mobile operators, and the Thai Telecoms Association.
An adviser to the working committee chair, Prawit Leesatapornwongsa, proposed that operators should offer a service that allows users to deactivate international calls.
Moreover, the telecoms association recommended developing a mobile application for screening and checking suspicious numbers.
In addition, the association suggested that the NBTC serve as a registrar for SMS text senders, similar to Singapore.
Additionally, it urged mobile phone operators to take additional responsibility for preventing call center scams by allowing users to block international calls.
Mr Prawit states that the NBTC will follow up on the matter as soon as possible.
Source: Bangkok Post
Keywords: e-sim card,pre paid sim card
