Senate Standing Committee on Interior has directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to impose Rs 350 million fine on each mobile company, if they fail in deactivating 7.454 million unauthorised SIMs by May 22.
"We directed the PTA to issue show-cause notices to cell phone companies on May 22 and impose fine of Rs 350 million each along with cancellation of licenses, if they don''t comply with the regulator''s directives", said Senator Muhammad Talha Mehmood, chairman of the committee while briefing the newsmen about the decisions of the committee.
He said that a privilege motion will be moved in the Senate against the cell phone companies upon failure to submit an audit reports. "An income tax officer or an auditor can demand this report which they have resisted submitting in the Senate Committee and we will take stern action against these companies", he said, adding: "The audit report will reveal the investment they have made in Pakistan and what they have taken back so far."
A four-member committee consisting of Secretary Interior, Secretary Information Technology, Nadra chairman, and PTA chairman was constituted to streamline the matters regarding the unauthorised SIMs and other procedures, said Talha Mehmood, adding that, at present, 7,453,508 unauthorised SIMs are active in the country.
He said that cell phone companies were asked to present monthly statement of SIMs issued, verified and action taken against unverified SIMs to PTA, while the PTA was directed to probe into major lapses in issuance and distribution of SIMs. He said the PTA should obtain appropriate guarantees from the companies before issuing the licenses.
He said the mobile companies were also directed to register and verify about 3.5 million SIMs before June 30. If they fail to meet this target now they will face PTA action in the shape of fine of Rs 350 million per company. "We will cancel the licenses of the mobile phone companies if they fail to follow the procedures and fulfill the requirements", said Talha Mehmood.
He said the cell phone companies were directed not to activate any SIM without proper verification and only 10 SIMs would be given on one name, adding that the companies were asked to register the satellite phone and no satellite phone be given without following registration procedures.
He said the cell phones are major means of communication by criminals and terrorists who invariably use unauthorised SIMs not registered in their names and this practice needs to be brought to an end.
He said the committee has asked cell phone companies to deactivate the all unverified SIMs which remain untraced. The process of verification of all SIMs be completed within four weeks. All the cell phone companies should develop online verification system with nadra and not issue SIMs without verification, he added.
The committee asked the PTA and cell phone companies to develop software to monitor the issuance of multiple SIMs on the same name, he said, adding that the committee also asked to sell SIMs through authorised outlets only.
The Senate Committee met in Parliament House on Saturday morning with Senator Talha Mehmood in the chair while senators, Raziq Khan, Gulshan Saeed, Sadia Abbasi, Dr Abdul Khaliq Peerzada attended the meeting. Secretary Interior Syed Kamal Shah, Secretary IT Hafizur Rehman, Chairman Nadra Saleem Moeen and Chairman PTA were also present in the meeting.
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