PTA starts second phase of illegal SIM suspension to combat criminal activities

 The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has announced the commencement of the second phase of its operation to suspend mobile SIMs registered on expired Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs), reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday.

This initiative is part of a broader strategy to combat financial fraud, terrorism, and other criminal activities in the country.

According to a statement issued by the PTA, SIMs registered on CNICs that expired before 2017 and have not been renewed will be suspended.

This follows the first phase of the operation, during which the PTA blocked fake SIMs and canceled the CNICs of citizens involved in illegal activities.

The telecommunications regulator has urged users to renew their identity cards to avoid having their SIMs blocked.

“Over 69,000 illegal SIMs have been blocked since August 16 as the authority is using data obtained from NADRA to identify and block illegal SIMs,” PTA said.

In the third phase, the PTA said that the authority would block SIMs registered in the names of deceased persons during the third phase.

PTA warned that SIMs issued against expired identity cards before 2017 will also be blocked within a week. Before the blocking of mobile SIMs, awareness messages were sent to users, asking them to avoid this by renewing their ID cards through NADRA and getting their SIMs verified.

Earlier, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) terminated over 85,000 SIM cards of non-compliant taxpayers in a move to enforce tax compliance.

The FBR spokesperson in a statement confirmed that data for 90,000 non-filers was shared with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PYA), with FBR providing data for 5,000 non-filers daily. The spokesperson said that the SIM cards of 14,000 non-filers were restored after they submitted their income tax returns and were included in the list of active taxpayers.