Afghanistan Times
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AT-KABUL: The Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology (MoTIT) on Saturday, said that efforts on card to address the issue of unregistered SIM cards and its use in the country.
Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister, Abdul Raziq Wahidi, said the Ministry had presented a draft to the economic committee of the cabinet, in order to overcome the presence of unregistered SIM cards.
“Discussions are underway with the telecommunication companies to register their SIM cards through biometric system across the country,” he said.
“Currently around 25 million SIM cards had been distributed by different telecommunication companies, in which, probably,there are 15 million active mobile-cards,” he said, adding that efforts should be taken for registration of all unregistered SIM cards.
Hinting to the 10 percent tax on mobile users, he said that there is no specific budget to establish a system to collect mobile taxes directly. “But there is a clear mechanism in this regard,” he said. “When there is budget, the ministry would establish a system to collect taxes and deposit in the exchequer,” he said.
It is worth mentioning that the existence of unregistered SIM cards has created different security and social challenges across the country.
A Kabul citizen, Mohammad Masoud, said that terrorists, robbers and kidnappers were using unregistered SIM cards while making contact with their accomplices.
He added that some irresponsible people use unregistered SIM cards to disturb families, particularly females. He called on the government to accelerate steps to register SIM cards, and also to put pressure on telecommunication companies not to activate unregistered cards, because it is the only remedy to overcome the existence of unregistered SIM cards in the country.
