75.5m SIMS verified through BVS; a milestone crossed

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry for Information Technology and Telecommunication (MOIT) has revealed that the SIM verification drive through Biometric Verification System (BVS), initiated under the directions of the National Action Plan (NAP) has been successfully completed as 27.5 million active Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) have been blocked on Saturday with the expiry of the final deadline.
The official sources of the ministry told ‘The News’ here on Saturday that the MOIT and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) were tasked to carry out verification of all existing SIMs through BVS in January 2015. State Minister Ms Anusha Rehman personally overviewed the whole exercise and ensured its completion in efficient manner. The task which looked difficult initially as the previous governments failed to do so despite demand by law enforcement agencies, was now made possible through all-out support of relevant stakeholders and dedicated efforts of all, particularly PTA, MOIT, the Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) and Nadra, the sources said. The support provided by people made this process a success who participated in the verification process considering it a national cause.
During the course of the activity, MOIT and PTA undertook measures not only to make the process smooth and transparent but also to facilitate general public. Extensive awareness campaigns through SMS, electronic and digital media were run. In addition, an alternative verification process was deployed to facilitate the aged, disabled and overseas Pakistanis. The final deadline for completion of the exercise was April 12, 2015, however, certain categories including one SIM per CNIC per operator and in continuous use for last two years were allowed by the government to operate beyond this date. The deadline for the latter category of SIMs was May 15, 2015 and CMOs were asked to block all such SIMs which could not be verified beyond this date. Accordingly, all unverified SIMs have been blocked. However, these SIMs can be unblocked by the owner by visiting any sale channel and performing successful biometric verification.
According to the final figure, out of target 103 million active SIMs, 75.5 million SIMs have been re-verified while 27.5 million active SIMs have been blocked on May 15, 2015.
It is worth mentioning that government asked CMOs to re-verify their complete subscribers’ base irrespective of their current status i.e. active or dormant. In this regard, another 21 million SIMs were verified from the dormant base while 17 million SIMs were already verified through BVS between August 1, 2014 and January 12, 2015. New SIMs are only issued through the process of BVS.
After crossing this major milestone, PTA is directed to carry out a third party audit of the whole exercise to verify its authenticity. In this regard, Expression of Interest (EoI) for hiring of a third party auditor has already been floated. The complete exercise has been closely monitored by the Minister of State for IT & Telecom, PTA chairman and Member Compliance & Enforcement PTA, to ensure that the process concludes without any hindrance and is completed on time. It is believed that the effects of the re-verification drive shall go a long way in ensuring a safer Pakistan.