August 14, 2005
Malaysia Requires Prepaid Mobile Phone Users To Register
Mobile phone users in Malaysia with prepaid SIM cards must register with their service providers by the end of this year to assist authorities in tracing people who abuse the service, a news report said Sunday, according to Cellular News.
"The government had previously asked the country's three service providers to register such users but the request was not made mandatory.
We have 16 million prepaid mobile phone users and 14 million of them are not registered," Communications Minister Lim Keng Yaik was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama.
Lim acknowledged that the service providers faced a mammoth task in registering the 14 million people, who account for more than 80% of overall mobile phone users.
But he said the registration was mandatory as the government wished to check abusive calls and text messages.
Wednesday, Malaysian police arrested two Indonesian men following a series of bomb warning hoaxes spread by text message on the northern resort island of Penang. The messages warned of bombs planted at various locations, sending shoppers into a panic".
Related measures taken by other countries:
-- In Thailand, on the trail of cellphone terrorists
-- Singapore plans to regulate pre-paid phone cards to curb terrorism
-- Prepaid Phones Get a Bad Rap From Crime Use in Japan
-- Norway: Police want mobile phone cash cards stopped
-- Swisscom Blocks 130,000 Prepaid Mobile Phone Numbers
-- Switzerland forcing registration of PrePay customers
-- Prepaid phones to be outlawed in Japan
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