By Theckla Gunga – EMTV News, Port Moresby
Mobile phone users in Papua New Guinea have six days left to register their SIM Cards. The SIM deactivation date is on April 30, this follows the three months’ grace period given by NICTA for customers to register their SIM cards.
NICTA, the government body responsible for Internet and Communications Services in the country, will start the deactivation exercise on April 30. This means mobile phone users who fail to register will have their SIM cards deactivated.
Since the NICTA Act was passed in August 2016, all telecommunication companies were required to register their customers come December 31, 2017. However, half of the mobile phone users could not register because of the registration required documents that most people in rural areas did not have access to. Thus the deadline was moved forward to January 23, 2018, and later moved to April 30, 2018.
Mobile companies will be fined K50,000 each for all mobile phone users who fail to register their SIM cards by the deadline.