BTRC allows users to repurchase SIMs after June 1 deactivation

Mobile phone users will be allowed to repurchase their respective SIMs within 18 months after deactivation in the case of their failure in completing biometric re-registration of the subscriber identification modules by the May 31 deadline.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission made the decision at a meeting on Sunday and the mobile phone companies were also directed to follow the order.
The government earlier extended the deadline for biometric re-registration of SIMs to May 31 from April 30 and announced that it would deactivate all the unregistered SIMs from June 1.
‘From June 1 all unregistered SIMs will be deactivated. So the users will have to buy new SIMs. But we have decided to allow the subscribers to repurchase their respective SIMs so that they can continue using their numbers. But the users will have to follow biometric registration process in buying back the SIMs,’ a senior BTRC official told New Age.
As on Saturday, 9 crore SIMs became biometrically re-registered while the active connection in the country is more than 13 crore.
‘The mobile phone companies have informed us that the rate of biometric re-registration declined sharply after the time extension. So we have allowed the operators to run some promotional campaigns to attract users to complete the re-registration,’ he said.
Officials of the mobile companies said that selling of the deactivated SIMs to their original owners will now be subjected to taxation.
‘As those sales will be considered as reselling not replacement of SIMs, so we have to pay Tk 100 tax for each SIM to the government. Usually we pay the SIM tax on behalf of the users but we are yet to decide who will pay the tax in this case,’ a senior official of a mobile company told New Age.
Another official of a mobile phone company said to avoid any complicacy regarding SIM tax the operators are planning to run extensive promotional campaigns to finish the job (of biometric re-registration) by the deadline.
The government in December last year made the biometric re-registration of SIMs mandatory to tackle the increasing crimes through mobile phones.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net