The SIM card registration deadline has further been extended to April.
This final 3-month extension is to give time to subscribers in the rural areas to register their SIM cards.
The National Information & Communications Technology Authority (NICTA), in a meeting with the 3 mobile network operators, discovered that bmobile-vodafone registered 62 percent of subscribers, Telikom PNG registered 74 percent of its users and Digicel PNG managed 42 percent.
Statistically, this means 1.5 million subscribers are yet to register.
Communications Minister Sam Basil said this will be the last extension and issued a stern warning to operators and users to complete the SIM registration before April 30th.
Penalties for both operators and subscribers will be fully enforced after the deadline.
Operators will be charged K50,000 per unregistered SIM while users will have their services partially disconnected.
Meanwhile, Basil commended subscribers in Milne Bay, East and West New Britain provinces for having recorded the highest percentage of SIM card registration to date.
He said these provinces have set the benchmark for all other provinces to follow in the next 3 months.
(Communications Minister Sam Basil, left, with NICTA CEO Charles Punaha)