With this directive in place, customers can buy new SIMs only if they have fewer than 5 SIMs registered against their CNICs.
Only way to get new SIM – for customers having more than 5 SIMs registered against their CNIC – is to get old, inactive and un-used SIMs blocked before making a new purchase.
Cellular operators confirmed ProPakistani that they check number of SIMs registered against customers’ CNIC before selling new SIMs.
Implementation of this rule has made cellular subscribers to get their old (inactive) SIMs blocked.
It merits mentioning here that this rule of 5 SIMs against one CNIC was issued on orders of supreme court of Pakistan.
Cellular companies, in response to a question, told ProPakistani that mechanism for blocking SIMs for customers who have more than 5 SIMs on their CNIC is yet to be formulated. They said that it is unclear so far that to which SIMs are going to get blocked – since each customer may have SIMs of various operators and they might be in-use as well.
PTA is encouraging cellular subscribers to visit franchises and service centres of cellular companies to get their un-used SIMs blocked.
For the purpose, customers can send their CNIC number to 668 to know the number of SIMs issued against their CNICs. Alternatively, they can also visit PTA website to check number of SIMs issued against their CNIC.