Regulator expects 80% of pre-paid SIMs to be registered by deadline

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) expects 80% of the country’s pre-paid mobile SIM cards to have been registered by the government deadline of 15 December, according to The Edge Daily. The bulk of the unregistered cards are likely to be owned by people with multiple phone numbers who acquired additional cheap SIMs as a result of the ongoing price war between operators, the regulator says. The mandatory nationwide registration of pre-paid users began late last year and those who do not comply will see their lines forcibly cut off. By 8 December 14.6 million of the country’s 18.5 million pre-paid cards had been registered. ‘We will be very pleased if we can register 15 million subscribers,’ MCMC corporate communications manager Adelina Iskandar told the paper.