Dubai:
Etisalat’s mobile subscribers who got SMSs from the telecom service provider
should update their personal information within three months, failing which
their mobile connection will be disconnected and later on their SIM card numbers
will be cancelled, a top etisalat official told Gulf News.
Hassan Al
Abdouli, Director of Channel Management at etisalat, said: “Etisalat has sent
SMSs to 1.5 million subscribers kindly asking them to update their personal
data within three months, otherwise they will be eligible to lose their SIM
cards. If the subscribers fail to update the information within the specified
period following the SMSs, the SIM card will be suspended and after another
three months the number will be cancelled as well.”
According to
etisalat’s policy, he said the telecom service provider can resell the number
to another customer three months after the number has been cancelled.
The
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the UAE has launched the “My
Number, My Identity” campaign in collaboration with the two telecom service
providers (etisalat and du) to increase awareness on the new registration
procedures which are aimed to organise registration processes and requirements
for mobile phone services, provided by the licensees.
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The TRA has
warned that 18 months after the launch of the campaign, owners of the mobile
phone SIMs which were issued under their names will have to bear the
consequences of any misuse of SIM cards issued to them, their family members or
even friends.
“Etisalat has
around 8.6 million subscribers and we are going to inform them through several
phases requesting 1.5 million subscribers every three months to update their
mobile registration. After three months of this notice, the mobile subscription
would be disconnected and won’t be activated until the actual owner of the SIM
card submits the necessary documents to complete registration. The new
registration procedures will be considered as strict measures to protect the users’
rights against fraud, bad debt as well as criminal cases,” Al Abdouli said.
Al Abdouli said
that to register the personal information, etisalat subscribers should visit
any of the 104 etisalat offices or service centres across the Emirates and
submit original copies of their personal documents for authentication.
“It won’t take
more than ten minutes to fill up the form handing it to etisalat staff to enter
the date and save it,” he said.
“The
information will process automatically and subscribers would get SMSs saying
that they have completed the registration update successful.”
The service
will not be affected or interrupted during the process. It involves just
updating the customer profile, he added
Source: Gulf News