The Kingdom’s three major mobile operators have a three-month deadline to document all unregistered SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards, according to a recent decision by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC).
The three companies (Zain, Orange and Umniah) will each face a JD200,000 fine if they do not abide by the decision, according to a TRC statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times on Thursday. The decision stipulates that the mobile operators register and collect personal data for undocumented SIM cards and disconnect all unregistered cards after the deadline.
The TRC said it sent the warning to the three companies as it believes their commitment to a campaign, launched in 2007, to document all SIM cards, was insufficient.
According to official TRC figures, mobile phone penetration in Jordan has now reached 101 per cent as there are six million subscribers in the Kingdom.
In 2007, the TRC initiated the first phase of the campaign in an effort to streamline the sector by organising and regulating the sale of prepaid SIM cards in cooperation with the operators.
The national ID or a photocopy of the customer’s passport is required for the registration process, according to the TRC.
The campaign was prompted by a growing number of complaints to the TRC, mobile companies and relevant security services indicating that repeated harassment had led to social problems.
Under the campaign, SIM cards of subscribers who do not register their data get disconnected, which means they will only be able to receive phone calls and SMSs, with no outgoing calls or text messages allowed, according to the TRC.
In its statement, the TRC said it will follow up on commitment to the implementation of the campaign every month after the end of the deadline in March, noting that violating companies will be fined JD200,000 for each month of noncompliance after the deadline. Full source:
