& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

SIM registration compromised

Abdullah Mamun
The telecom regulator's attempts to crack the whip on bogus mobile connections have run into a dead end, as retailers can now be found selling pre-activated SIM cards already registered under fake names.
To get new connections under the guidelines of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission that took effect in October 2012, subscribers have to furnish a copy of their national identity cards and passport-sized photographs and also be present at the point of sale to provide thumb prints on the registration forms.
Once the procedures are completed would the subscriber identity module {SIM) card be activated and the entire process can take up to 72 hours. If the procedures are not followed, the regulator can slap a fine of $50.
But, many retailers are now selling SIM cards that do not necessitate any of the above steps - one does not need to provide any documents to purchase them and they can be used right away. As a result, it becomes next to impossible to trace the subscribers were they to commit any crimes using the number.
"It has become difficult to implement the tighter subscriber verification norms as operators cannot individually control their thousands of distributors and retailers across the country," said Sunil Kami Bose,
chairman of BTRC, adding that all related parties have to take responsibility forthe irregularity.
When contacted, the officials of the mobile operators, however, placed the blame squarely on retailers. The customers want to use a SIM as soon as they purchase it and the
retailers do not want to turn them away and lose their commission, they said.
TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), said the lack of any tool to verify the documents provided by the subscribers is to blame.
Were the operators given access to the national database to verify the identification cards, such offence would have been in check, he added.
The Daily Star conducted its own investigation and found most retailers guilty of the offence.
When this correspondent insisted on following the correct procedures, the retailers simply shrugged it off, saying they are not needed anymore.
After purchasing a SIM from one such retailer the correspondent rang the call centre to find out the name to which the number was registered to, but the customer service officer refused to disclose anything.
Later, the correspondent found a retailer in the capital's Baridhara area activating SIM cards through a special device connected to a mobile phone. The SIM cards did not even need to be taken off their moulds, meaning they stayed intact, just like they came out from the warehouse.
Next to retailer were piles of completed registration forms, which were most definitely filled with random: photos, photocopies of national identification cards and thumb prints.