Etisalat's mobile subscribers who got SMSs from the telecom service provider should update their personal information within three months, failing which their mobile connection will be disconnected and later on their SIM card numbers will be cancelled, a top etisalat official told Gulf News. Hassan Al Abdouli, Director of Channel Management at etisalat, said: “Etisalat has sent SMSs to 1.5 million subscribers kindly asking them to update their personal data within three months, otherwise they will be eligible to lose their SIM cards. If the subscribers fail to update the information within the specified period following the SMSs, the SIM card will be suspended and after another three months the number will be cancelled as well." According to etisalat's policy, he said the telecom service provider can resell the number to another customer three months after the number has been cancelled. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the UAE has launched the “My Number, My Identity" campaign in collaboration with the two telecom service providers (etisalat and du) to increase awareness on the new registration procedures which are aimed to organise registration processes and requirements for mobile phone services, provided by the licensees. The TRA has warned that 18 months after the launch of the campaign, owners of the mobile phone SIMs which were issued under their names will have to bear the consequences of any misuse of SIM cards issued to them, their family members or even friends. “Etisalat has around 8.6 million subscribers and we are going to inform them through several phases requesting 1.5 million subscribers every three months to update their mobile registration. After three months of this notice, the mobile subscription would be disconnected and won't be activated until the actual owner of the SIM card submits the necessary documents to complete registration. The new registration procedures will be considered as strict measures to protect the users' rights against fraud, bad debt as well as criminal cases," Al Abdouli said. Al Abdouli said that to register the personal information, etisalat subscribers should visit any of the 104 etisalat offices or service centres across the Emirates and submit original copies of their personal documents for authentication. “It won't take more than ten minutes to fill up the form handing it to etisalat staff to enter the date and save it," he said. “The information will process automatically and subscribers would get SMSs saying that they have completed the registration update successful." The service will not be affected or interrupted during the process. It involves just updating the customer profile, he added “Everyday we have an average of 10,000 subscriber who approach etisalat offices to update their personal information. Even if customers SIM is not under their names, they can update their personal information and can re-register the SIM cards under their names temporarily as the ownership will be transferred automatically if the original owner didn't claim it back within six months time," Al Abdouli said. Gulf News 2012
