The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) has instructed the nation’s operators to register their customers SIMs in order to curb fraud and crime.
The operators have been told to register SIMs with owners’ personal details and photocopies of their National Identity Cards, the Daily Mirror reported.
President Maithripala Sirisena had proposed the SIM registration scheme after it was observed that a large number of active SIMs have been issued without proper documentation on the identity of the customers.
Sri Lanka will be following other APAC nations in implementing a mandatory SIM registration scheme, such as Thailand, Bangladesh and Cambodia.
Sri Lanka’s mobile market is dominated by the big three operators Dialog Axiata, Mobitel and Etisalat. Mobitel is in the process of being separated from parent company Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) and listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. The government currently owns a 49.5% stake in SLT.