"Bustling" junk SIM market

(Baonghean) - Circular 04/2012/TT-BTTT of the Ministry of Information and Communications regulating the management of prepaid mobile subscribers is expected to be the "key" to tightly control the problem of "junk" SIM cards being bought and sold everywhere, causing many consequences. However, up to this point, the "junk" SIM card market is becoming more and more bustling...

"Cheap SIM, huge account" is everywhere

In the role of a SIM card buyer, I went to a SIM card store on Vo Thi Sau Street, near Vinh University. The seller displayed stacks of SIM cards, introducing all kinds of "Cheap SIM cards, big promotions", "Cheap SIM cards, big accounts"... With 100,000 VND, I chose to buy a Vinaphone SIM card, with a promotional account of 100,000 VND, plus 650 minutes of free calls within the network.

Expressing concern that he had forgotten to bring his ID card to register and activate, the store employee said: "It's not necessary, because this SIM card has been activated, just insert it into the phone and use it freely. Not only buying 1 SIM card, but if the customer needs to buy dozens of SIM cards, the store can still supply it."

A sim-card shop on Vo Thi Sau street.

Not only small retail stores, but also many famous phone and computer centers in Vinh city, violations in prepaid subscription business are also common. Currently, some phone centers are offering promotional "tricks" to attract customers: buy a phone, get a prepaid SIM card with a "huge" account. It is worth mentioning that most SIM cards are not registered in the owner's name, and in case the customer forgets their ID card, the center's staff "flexibly" uses their ID card to register for the customer.

Customers can easily buy pre-activated phone SIM cards at SIM and card dealers (Photo taken on Dinh Cong Trang Street, Vinh City).

Cheap SIM cards, big promotions and no need to go through the procedures of declaring personal information, so many people, especially young people, choose to buy "junk" SIM cards to use instead of recharging their main subscriber accounts. "Buying a SIM card will immediately get double the promotion in the account, which is much cheaper than recharging a phone card. Besides, now my friends and I mostly have "dual SIM, dual signal" phones, so in addition to a main SIM card that is permanently installed, the second SIM card is constantly changed. When the promotion ends, we can change it, which is both convenient and cheap" - Cao Thuy Hien, a second-year student at Vinh University said.

The proliferation of "junk" SIM cards has led to many consequences. First of all, this is identified as the main cause of "junk" messages: fashion advertisements, real estate classifieds, invitations to buy beautiful SIM cards... making people angry. On the other hand, buying and using "junk" SIM cards is too easy, without registering account owner information or registering fake ones, making it difficult for authorities to inspect and handle those who use "junk" SIM cards to commit illegal acts.

Difficult to handle

To deal more strongly with the problem of "junk" SIM cards, on October 14, 2015, the Ministry of Information and Communications has just published a draft Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular 04/2012 regulating the management of prepaid mobile subscribers, aiming to control virtual subscribers, SIM cards registered without the owner's name, creating convenience for people to register for subscriptions and increasing the responsibility of telecommunications enterprises in managing the problem of "junk" SIM cards.

Circular 04/2012/TT-BTTT of the Ministry of Information and Communications regulating the management of prepaid mobile subscribers is considered the legal basis with the most strict constraints in the management of prepaid mobile subscribers, which was hoped to curb the situation of "junk" SIM cards. However, after 3 years of the Circular coming into practice, many telecommunications experts believe that there are still many limitations.

Mr. Phan Sy Quy - Head of Telecommunications Management Department, Nghe An Department of Information and Communications said: "Two months ago, the department's working group surveyed the prepaid mobile subscription business activities in Vinh city, thereby showing that the buying and selling of SIM cards took place openly, with many violations. We determined that these violations originated from the number of prepaid mobile subscriptions that had been activated, existing before the time Circular 04 took effect, and there is still no solution to recover them and it is currently impossible to count how many of these activated subscriptions are currently in circulation on the market."

In addition to the surveys according to the program of activities of the Ministry of Information and Communications, every year, the Department of Information and Communications of Nghe An also conducts periodic inspections and checks. However, the penalties according to the provisions of the law are still not enough to deter and have not "permeated" the number of SIM card and card businesses in the whole province.

On the other hand, besides the challenge of managing the “supply” source, the difficulties from the demand side of the people also give managers a headache. Business activities, buying and selling “junk” SIM cards take place according to the natural law, where there is “demand”, there is “supply”, so, once people have not raised awareness about using prepaid mobile subscriptions in accordance with the law, it is natural for businesses to “circumvent the law” to serve customers.

Phuong Chi