Acting on the directives of the Federal Interior Ministry, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) on Monday banned the sale of all private cellphone company's Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The ban would encompass the sale of SIMs at all company and franchise outlets. The decision to enforce the ban in the province was taken in view of the prevalent use of illegal SIMs in most terrorist activities in the province.