Biometric registration on trial run

The trial run of biometric SIM registration system will be inaugurated today.

Prime minister's ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy will formally launch the pilot project at the Posts and Telecommunications Division. He will buy a new SIM and leave his fingerprint on a biometric device connected to the database of Election Commission.

Under the system, mobile phone operators will take subscribers' fingerprints on a biometric device and verify the scans against the EC database.

On verification, if any SIM is found to have registered with a fake ID, the user will be asked to re-register it with the genuine national ID in seven days. Otherwise, the SIM would then be cancelled permanently.

The operators will start using the system from November 1 on trial basis. The final project will start from December 16.

“It will be a major step towards bringing order in the telecommunication industry,” State Minister for Telecommunication Tarana Halim said yesterday, while addressing a press briefing at the Secretariat.

The biometric registration, re-registration and verification of all 13 crore subscribers will be completed by March next year, she said, adding that the regulator will fine the operators if any SIM is found with fake registration after March.

The government in September announced that all mobile phone users will have to re-register their numbers, and the move came to prevent criminal activities through the cellular networks.