Prepaid users must register

KUALA LUMPUR: All pre-paid handphone users will be required to register their personal particulars with their service providers under a new cabinet directive.

"The decision was made not just because of recent SMS abuses, but also for national security as we saw the London bombs were triggered off by mobile phones," Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said Sunday.

The move will also help authorities trace culprits responsible for abusive calls and to check abuse of short messaging service (SMS), he said.

"Malacca and Penang will be the first states that will register pre-paid handphone users," he said, adding that the cabinet agreed to this last week as both states are small and easy to monitor.

The ministry will see what kind of problems are encountered in the two states during the registration process.

Speaking after chairing the Gerakan central committee meeting, Lim said out of 16 million mobile phone users, 14 million are prepaid customers.

Quite a number of them are foreign workers who may not have fixed addresses, he said.

Since June, all new users of prepaid cards have been required to produce their identification card and register when they buy their SIM cards.

Under the new rule, existing users will be required to register their particulars when they top up their credits.

"So, the three telcos (Maxis, DiGi and Celcom) will have to go through this big exercise to call all existing prepaid users back to register with them," Lim said. Source.

Might as well get the postpaid plan since it's quite cheap now..