NBTC orders suspension of 2.14 million mobile phone numbers

Mobile phone operators have been instructed to suspend the services of 2.14 million mobile phone numbers whose owners have failed to come forward and identify themselves within the set deadline.  

Pol General Nathathorn Prousoontorn from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) said on Tuesday that the owners of six to 100 SIM cards had been given until July 13 to come forward and identify themselves.

The measure had been set by the NBTC’s subcommittee, which oversees the integration of measures on law enforcement against computer crimes and national security.

After the deadline expired, as many as 2,141,317 phone numbers were found to have remained unregistered and the owners unidentified, he said.

Hence, the NBTC has instructed mobile phone operators to start suspending calls, SMS and internet services of the numbers from now on.

The numbers will be revoked and returned to the NBTC for redistribution within 30 to 45 days if the owners still fail to come forward and register.

Nathathorn said he believes more people will come forward in the next few weeks when they find they cannot use the numbers.

Earlier, the NBTC had suspended the services of 1.096 million mobile phone numbers of those who own more than 100 SIM cards after they failed to meet the registration deadline.

Nathathorn added that the NBTC had also been asked by the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) to check some 80 million mobile phone numbers tied to some 113.568 million mobile banking accounts.

He said the NBTC had called on the mobile phone operators to check if the owners of the SIM cards were also the owners of the mobile bank accounts. This check should be completed by September, he added.

Nathathorn also said that the NBTC has cooperated with the Royal Thai Police to arrest 29 suspects this year for installing secret boosters to improve mobile phone signals across the border to help call centre gangs based in border towns.

He said the NBTC has blocked access to 465 illegal cell signal boosters along the border and demolished 179 of them in the five border provinces of Tak, Chiang Rai, Sa Kaew, Chanthaburi and Ranong.

As of July 11, the NBTC, police and officials from the Excise Department shops in Bangkok’s Suan Luang and Wattana districts and confiscated 6,000 items of illegal telecom equipment worth 12 million baht.