Vietnam to deactivate 12 mln unregistered cell phone cards

Vietnam will deactivate 12 million unregistered or improperly registered cell phone cards, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) said on Thursday.

In Vietnam, a SIM card must be properly registered at the time of activation with the owner's correct information, including name, date of birth and identification number.

However, some SIM card dealerships have defied the law by self-registering cards en masse with fake information and selling the ready-to-use cards at cheap prices to customers, particularly foreigners who are unaware of the registration process, local Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper reported on Thursday.

To combat the use of improperly registered cards, the MIC has launched an extensive campaign aimed at deactivating improperly registered SIMs.

According to data gathered from local mobile carriers, some 12 million SIM cards will be deactivated for violating the regulation unless their users re-take the registration process with correct information within 15 days of the notification. Endit