Fugitive ward commissioners, lack of connection with first class gazetted officers, flood and impending Ramadan are some of the elements mobile phone users are going to deal with in the next few weeks as the authorities asked them to get their subscription reregistered by October 16.
The recent instruction has created a rush among the millions of subscribers who got cellphone connection before February last year as very little time is left to renew their subscription.
SIM card, two copies of passport size photo, passport or any photo ID card (like the office ID card or driving licence) and the forms and documents given during subscription are needed for the re-registration.
Re-registration can be a real problem for those who do not have any kind of photo ID card. In case one does not have a photo ID card, he/she will have to fill in the BTRC form and get it attested by a first class gazetted officer or by the local ward commis-
sioner.
But many ward commissioners became fugitive after the state of emergency was declared. So it will be hard to get a signature from them.
Most first class gazetted officers do not want to attest for those who they do not know personally. So it will be a hassle for many uneducated and village people to find a government officer.
People are now rushing to the customer care centres of the cellphone companies to get things done before the last date. They have voiced mixed reaction at this sudden move from the authorities. They said getting the subscription registered again will be a hassle for many.
Sonali, a young professional, said: "I am a working person. I will have to manage at least one day for doing this job. If they could provide us with web-based forms, it would have been easier for working people. We could have filled in the form while in office or at home."
"The main problem will be that many people have lost the documents they were given when they bought the SIM card. Besides, there are some people who are using SIM cards bought in their relative's names or were given as a gift. I'm using my father's SIM," she said.
It is very difficult for village people to get a renewed subscription by taking photos because many villages do not have photo studios. It will be hard for them to collect required documents too. "If we can have national ID card first then may be we will not have to face such problems," she added.
Many mobile users are confused about why they will have to re-register and what will happen if they fail to do it.
"First of all it is an extra hassle for us. We do not know why we will have to do it. There are many people who are maintaining several SIM cards. It will be very difficult for them to get all those reregistered within two months. It is not a matter of joke," said a private university student, seeking anonymity.
"It is not clear to us what measures we are going to face in case we fail to reregister as the newspaper advertisement says 'steps will be taken according to government rules' if anyone fails to re-register. Reading this it seemed to me as if it is a crime to keep mobiles phones and this kind of approach is creating panic among mobile phone users," he said.
Officials of mobile phone companies said they too do not know what steps will be taken in case someone has lost his documents.
Syed Yamin Bakht, general manager (information) Grameen Phone, said that if the time could have been extended it would have been better for all because of flood
and Ramadan.
About those who have lost their documents he said, "If anyone have lost their documents then he can come to our sales centres. They can work out what can be done with those cases."
Shehzad Hossain, assistant manager, public relations and communication, Banglalink, said they were not notified by the government specifically what steps are to be taken against those who are not able to renew the connection.
"We are assuming that cellphones of those who are not able to show papers will be disconnected as this is a logical solution to the problem. But we were not told anything by the government exactly what will be done," he said.
"We have asked the customers to bring the SIM card if they have lost the subscription documents because simply we do not want them to get scared. We are hoping that those who have lost documents can be found in our computer database. But we cannot say for sure that we have composed all the subscription documents," he said.