SIM registration deadline moved

THE deadline for the registration of SIM cards has been extended from today to April 30.
Minister for Communications Information Technology and Energy Sam Basil, pictured, made the announcement yesterday, with a stern warning to operators that they would be fined K50,000 per SIM card if those phone numbers were not registered after the deadline.
He said the National Information and Communication Technology Authority (Nicta) and his office had been receiving complaints from churches and people in rural communities about not being able to access areas of registration in urban centres.
“Taking that into consideration, the Government and I as the minister responsible, would like to announce the final extension,” Basil said.
“This extension will not be extended again. The extension will now be pushed to April 30, 2018.”
He said his office had received a response from telcos about registration.
“Telikom PNG Ltd has registered 74 per cent of its subscribers,” Basil said.
“Bmobile-Vodafone has registered 62 per cent of its subscribers.
“Digicel PNG has registered 42 per cent of its subscribers.
“When we put the numbers together, it has shown almost 1.5 million subscribers haven’t made any attempt to register.”
He said PNG had a culture of “last-minute rush”.
“We understand that in December, there was a spike in terms of subscribers registering – because we put pressure on them,” Basil said.
“After April 30, if the operators do not have SIM cards registered, Nicta will charge those companies K50,000 penalty for each of the unregistered SIM card.”