New SIM Card Rules Expected to Curtail Cyber Crimes, Says Ooredoo Maldives CCO
Hussain Niyaz, the Chief Commercial Officer of Ooredoo Maldives, affirmed that the newly revised regulations governing SIM card issuance would play a significant role in reducing cybercrime perpetuated through such means.
The “Rules for Issuance of Phone Number and Use of Numbers for Availing Mobile Phone Services” have recently been modified to limit the number of SIM cards a person can register. Under the new directives, a Maldivian citizen can have a maximum of ten SIM cards, whereas foreign nationals and tourists residing in the country are limited to three.
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In an interview with a media outlet, Niyaz described the changes as “extremely crucial and positive,” attributing their necessity to the growing incidence of cybercrimes committed via SIM-based calls. The revised rules, he asserted, would help combat this issue.
The new regulations stipulate that if an individual, operating as a private business, requires more than the standard limit of SIM cards, they may apply for additional ones. However, this would necessitate providing a valid reason to the Telecommunication Authority, who would then decide whether or not to grant the exception.
On the other hand, there are no specific criteria for issuing numbers to entities such as legal personalities and state agencies beyond private businesses.
As part of the transition towards this new rule, individuals currently owning more than ten SIM cards will be given a six-month window to determine which ten they wish to keep active. During this period, Ooredoo Maldives plans to implement a two-phase process to make unselected SIM cards unusable.
In the first phase, customers will be notified about the deactivation of SIM cards they typically don’t use. The second phase involves contacting customers to provide them an opportunity to alter their selection of unused SIM cards. In cases where the customer remains unreachable in both phases, the company retains the right to deactivate all but the ten most frequently used SIM cards.
