DHAKA: Government has decided to allow 20 SIM cards against one National ID (NID) card.

The decision has been made at a secretariat meeting in city on Tuesday (15th December) in presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ICT adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy.

Joy joined the meeting to review the progression and implementation of posts and telecommunications division projects.

After the meeting, posts and telecommunications state minister Tarana Halim told banglanews, "We have decided to allow maximum 20 SIM cards against one NID. Extra SIMS will be automatically disconnected and it will come out during the re-registration".

"This rule will not apply to the corporate customers,” the state minister opined.

"But which customer of that organization is using the SIMs must be notified to avoid any hindrance due to their discontinuation to the job.”

"Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will give directives regarding the matter within a few days," she added.

However, the state minister did not mention the number of maximum SIMs from one operator.

Earlier, BTRC decided to allow maximum 10 SIMs cards against one NID.

According to BTRC last October data, as many as 131,996,000 SIM cards are being used through six operators in Bangladesh.

Recently BTRC proposed Bangladesh posts and telecommunications division to impose a limitation about keeping the number of SIMS cards against NID.

The government has decided to undertake a biometric re-registration campaign of SIM cards. This project is set to start on December 16 following an increased number of complaints against unregistered SIM cards and their use in criminal activities.

BDST: 1956 HRS, DEC 15, 2015
AIK/RR