TRC rings five as the right number

Wednesday, 10 November 2010 01:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Operators told by letter to limit SIM cards to five per subscriber; each person can have a maximum of 25 under new rule

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) yesterday decided to send letters authorising operators to limit the number of SIM cards available to one person to five.

TRC Director General Anusha Palpita told Daily FT that the authority had decided to limit the number of SIM cards available from one operator to each person to five and would be sending letters notifying them of this development from Tuesday.

“This means that each person will be entitled to 25 SIM cards and that should be enough for anyone,” he quipped, adding that there were no constraints to individuals obtaining five SIM cards from different operators.

This means that Dialog, Mobitel, Etisalat, Airtel and Hutch can issue each subscriber a maximum of five SIM cards per company. The decision to limit the number of SIM cards available to each person was mooted several weeks ago, but the final call was delayed due to grey legal areas that have now been sorted out, according to Palpita.

The decision was taken after consultation with the Ministry of Defence. The TRC had received several complaints noting that the proliferation of unlimited SIM cards across the country increased the chances of them being used for illegal activities and the TRC had taken this decision in response.