Etisalat Registers 95% Of SIM Cards In The UAE

UAE telco Etisalat announced that it has registered around 95 per cent of its entire database of mobile customers as part of a nation-wide campaign.

The ‘My Mobile, My identity’ campaign was launched by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) in mid-2012 to protect the subscribers from confidentiality infringement and to minimise the risk from the use of illegal SIM cards.

The campaign, which was divided into six stages, is currently in its final stage. The deadline for all SIM registrations will end on July 16, 2014, Etisalat said.

Mobile users who do not register their SIM cards before the deadline risk having their service suspended, the telco warned.

In September 2013, both Etisalat and du said that they suspended around three million subscribers who were late in registering their SIM cards in one of the campaign’s phases.

The suspension of a mobile number will bar the subscriber from making outgoing calls but allow access to incoming calls and text messages, TRA said.

The service will only be suspended after repeated warnings from the TRA and telecom operators, the regulator added.

Subscribers can register their SIM cards through any of Etisalat’s point of sales terminals or business centres.

Users can also start the registration process online and then visit an Etisalat outlet to complete the registration. The policy requires mobile subscribers to produce valid and original identification documents.

Both Etisalat and du increased the number of options through which registrations can be done after the campaign resulted in long queues and chaos during its initial stages.