Register cellphone number or lose service
Print Edition
MOBILE phone users who do not register their name and number face having services cut under new regulations introduced today.
Foreigners should take their SIM card and passport to register at a branch of their service provider, said officials.
Chinese users should register using their ID card.
Failure to do so will see international calls, bill checking services, text messages and standard calls blocked, according to a draft document by the Shanghai Communications Administration.
Shanghai is among the first batch of cities where the rules are being rolled out today.
Mobile phone users will be informed by calls or text messages that they must register identity information, said officials.
This initiative is seen by many industry observers as Chinese regulators and mobile carriers finally taking serious measures to implement real identity registration — 10 years after it was introduced.
Regulators say this will help crack down on spam messages, cold calls and fraudsters.
In Shanghai, some 33 million mobile numbers were in use at the end of June, according to the administration.
Although there are no official figures, carriers estimate that about 10 percent of phone users have not registered.
Carriers said that users who fail to register will “soon” see international calls blocked.
This will be followed by blocks on bill checking, text messages and finally, all calls, they added.
However, no timetable was given.
“Most 3G and 4G users have registered their real identity for mobile services,” said a Shanghai Mobile official.
“The problems exist among users of older 2G technology.”
The real identity policy, introduced in Shanghai in 2005, requires buyers of new handsets nationwide to produce identity documents before they receive their phone.
Users are required to provide ID information when buying smartphones fitted with SIM cards on websites such as Tmall and JD.com.
But regulators previously didn’t take serious measures to force existing prepaid users to adhere to the rule.
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