Telecommunications companies that sell unregistered pre-paid SIM cards will be subject to fines amounting to SR5 million, warned Abdullah Al-Dharab, Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) governor.

Al-Dharab said his commission decided, based on the request of the telecommunications companies, to extend the grace period given to enforce the CITC’s latest decision. Earlier this month, the commission issued a decree making it mandatory for the Kingdom’s cell phone subscribers to provide their national ID (Iqama) number when they wish to recharge or transfer credit to other cell phone users. Now companies have been given a two-month grace period at their request.

Al-Dharab urged companies to exert utmost efforts to facilitate the process of updating subscribers’ information. He warned violators against breaching the regulations and added that the CITC will disconnect any pre-paid cell phone line that is unregistered.

He told Al-Eqtisadiya daily that the concerned authorities have posted warning signs inside cell phone shops and outlets.

“If the CITC catches a seller with an unregistered SIM card, it will impose violations that might lead to deportation,” he warned.

“Some people are not aware of the dangers involved in using unregistered SIM cards. There are attempts to eradicate this phenomenon which jeopardizes national security and has other negative effects. There is no doubt that the decision serves the interests of the country and citizens.” Al-Dharab said some media reports exaggerated the figure of unregistered SIM cards in the country.

“Their number doesn’t constitute a large figure of the total number of SIM cards, which is nearly 50 million,” he said.

The CITC announced, at the outset of this month, plans to link the process of charging pre-paid SIM cards with the Iqama number of the subscriber. In its announcement, the commission stressed that all companies should have correct and updated information of subscribers.

The governor said the previous deadline was set after the CITC met with the country’s three major mobile phone companies to confirm that they were prepared technically to implement the new changes. However, the companies requested that the deadline be extended by another two months.