PTA increases the “New SIM Only” waiting period to seven days

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has altered its standard operating procedure (SOP), lengthening the time required to obtain a new SIM card from eight hours to seven days.

The PTA offered this explanation on January 18 in response to misunderstandings regarding their letter headed “Increasing Buffer between New SIM Sale Sessions from 8 hours to 7 days.”

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At the moment, there is an eight-hour gap between consecutive NADRA biometric verifications for transactions involving SIM cards. For new SIMs alone, this period is being extended to seven days.

The PTA clarified that this revision is intended to counter the strategies used by fraudulent organizations that quickly activate several illicit SIMs for misleading activities under the pretense of consumer surveys, non-governmental organizations, and free ration schemes that prey on unwary consumers.

The telecommunications authority went on to say that a new SIM can be issued initially and instantly if a CNIC is presented and verified using biometrics. However, the subscriber will have to wait seven days for NADRA biometric authentication for any further new SIMs on the same CNIC.

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PTA emphasized that the activation of duplicate SIM cards or any other SIM-related operations, such as ownership transfers and mobile number portability, are unaffected by this change in SOP.

The SOP change is one of the regulatory measures put in place to protect against the fraudulent or unauthorised issuing of SIM cards, and it is scheduled to go into effect on January 24.