KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is conducting a public enquiry on guidelines for prepaid SIM card registration.
Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching said the key proposal is to limit Malaysian citizens to owning just two numbers per telecommunications (telco) provider.
The study also includes a proposal to limit foreign nationals to just two prepaid numbers, regardless of telco provider.
She said the public consultation is expected to conclude by the end of November, and the MCMC aims to enforce the new guidelines in the first quarter of next year.
“By tightening these guidelines, we hope to reduce the misuse of prepaid SIM cards, which are often used to register social media accounts for fraud, spreading false information, or making threats,” Teo said during the oral question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
She added that under the existing guidelines set in 2017, an individual can register up to five prepaid numbers with each telco company.
“This means a person could have five numbers from Maxis, five from Celcom, five from Digi, five from U Mobile, and five from YTL. This amounts to a rather large number of SIM cards for a single individual,” Teo said.
The deputy minister was responding to Sungai Petani MP Dr Mohammed Taufiq Johari's supplementary query on the government's proposal to draft a policy for the ethical use of artificial intelligence and measures to strengthen digital forensic capabilities under the MCMC.
