Prawit Leesathapornwongsa, a member of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said today (August 1) his agency was in the process of seeking opinions from the government on whether the deadline could be delayed.
Mobile phone operators had asked the NBTC if the registration period could be extended because millions of people have not registered. The registration period started on February 1.
While the NBTC is waiting for the answer from the government, the final date for registration was still July 31, Mr Prawit said.
The cabinet approved the regulation requiring all mobile users to register their prepaid SIM cards earlier this year as part of the national security agenda. Several bombings in the South have been triggered by mobile phones with such SIM cards.
Starting on today, those failing to register subscriber information cannot make outgoing calls, use the internet or send text messages. They can still take incoming calls and dial a few emergency numbers. Throughout this month, they will hear a registration reminder whenever they use the phones.
If they register within August, they can continue to use their SIMs normally with no penalty or charges to their remaining credits.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith urged the 16.9 unregistered prepaid mobile users to register their personal information at more than 60,000 service points nationwide, including those at 7-Eleven stores, within this August 31 so that their SIMs are fully functional again.
A total of 68.6 million numbers, or 80.2 per cent of all 85.5 million issued prepaid numbers, had been registered.
Of the total 16.9 unregistered numbers, Mr Takorn said around 7-8 million numbers were used regularly while the rest were inactive users.
As of July 31, AIS, the largest mobile phone operator, registered 34.3 million numbers, or 81.4pc of its 41.6 million pre-paid users. DTAC registered 21.2 million, or 78.8pc of its 26.9 million pre-paid users while the third-ranked operator True registered 12.9 million, or 75.7pc of its 16.9 million pre-paid users.
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