16 million pre-activated SIM cards locked
As many as 16 million of the 17 million pre-activated SIM cards that were recalled nation-wide have been locked by service providers on January 15. This was revealed at a meeting organised by the Ministry of Information and Communications in Hà Nội on Thursday to review the confiscation of pre-activated SIM cars. Last November, the ministry had ordered mobile network providers to recall pre-activated SIM cards in a bid to reduce spam text messages and improve security. The recall of pre-activated SIM cards in the city has seen positive results, representatives of Hà Nội’s Department of Information and Communications said at the meeting. It has reduced the sale of pre-activated SIM cards dramatically, and it has changed people’s habit of purchasing a pre-activated SIM card and abandoning it after a short period. “This is the first time that 16 million SIM cards have been retrieved. It means that 16 million subscribers have been returned to the country’s digital reserves for reuse,” said Trương Minh Tuấn, Minister of Information and Communications.
