SIM card registration deadline

An urgent application filed by Madang MP Bryan Kramer and 42 other “substance farmers” in his electorate, seeking to restrain NICTA deactivating unregistered SIM cards after midnight tonight has been refused.

Justice David Cannings refused the 11^th hour application seeking interim injunction orders at the Waigani National Court today.

Kramer had his lawyer file the urgent application on 25 July, asking the court to restrain NICTA, Communications Minister Sam Basil and the state, from deactivating unregistered SIM cards in the urban centres from August 1st.

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.