YANGON, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar is taking measures against the sale of unregistered SIM cards, saying that the move is aimed at providing security for mobile financial services and individuals, the Ministry of Transport and Communications announced in a statement late on Saturday.
"In Myanmar, unregistered SIM cards are available at illegal shops and it is found that most of people who use more than two SIM cards did not register," said Minister of the President's Office of Myanmar U Soe Thein.
The situation is not only unhelpful for mobile monetary services but also unhelpful for personal and national security, he said, advising people to report their mobile phone operators.
Meanwhile, the ministry urged the telecom operators to sell only two SIM cards to one person, which will start on April 1, adding that foreigners can use their passports to buy SIM cards.
There are four mobile phone operators in Myanmar, the government-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunication (MPT), Telenor, Ooredoo and Telecom International Myanmar (Mytel). Mytel represents the only listed company among four telecom operators in the country.
The number of mobile subscribers in the country reached over 56.8 million in fiscal year 2017-2018, increasing by over 500,000 subscribers from 56.3 million subscribers in fiscal year 2016-2017.
The Myanmar government had received over 2.2-billion-U.S. dollar usage fees from mobile operators as of April 2018.
