ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication, Friday, recommended that curbing the issue of unauthorized and illegal SIMs need collaborative effort on the part of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and the NADRA.

The parliamentary panel met with Ali Khan Jadoon in the chair, here on Friday. On the unanimous recommendation of the committee members, the details of agreement between government of Pakistan and Etisalat would be discussed in the next in-camera meeting of the committee.

The committee chairman recommended to the PTA to work for the provision of internet to unserved and underserved areas especially in Balochistan on a priority basis. The issue of SIMs of deceased persons was also deliberated upon in detail and the PTA briefed the committee about the mechanism of transfer of SIMs to the successors. The committee unanimously suggested having an automatic procedure of the blockage of the SIMs of deceased persons. The committee recommended the PTA and the NADRA to collaborate and come up with workable mechanism within a week for this committee.

The committee suggested that there should be a mechanism where the PTA can detect automatically about the deceased ID card no, so that the SIMs can be blocked issued against the deceased persons.

The PTA representative also informed the committee that total five voice SIMs and two data SIMs can be issued against one ID card number. The PTA also briefed the committee about the matter of verifying the SIMs across the country.

The committee also took serious notice about the issue of method of sale of SIMs across the country and instructed the PTA to evolve some mechanism to regulate the sale of SIMs by telecom provider. The committee also sought the detail of agreement between Etisalat and the government of Pakistan in the next in-camera meeting. It also raised reservation about not attending the committee meeting by senior officers from the PTCL.

The committee unanimously recommended the PTA for provision of internet services to far-flung areas especially in Balochistan and Sindh provinces. The agenda item related with tax revenue by telecom industry and the agenda item II related with Sub-Committee was deferred.

The Standing Committee meeting was attended by MNAs Aysha Rajaz Ali, Romana Khurshid Alam, Syed Mahmood Shah, Naz Baloch, Ali Gohar Khan, and senior officers from the PTA, the USF, the NADRA, and the PTCL.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021