To-date, only 3.06 million SIM-cards have been reregistered in Tajikistan, says Tajik official

If the remaining 3.855 million SIM-cards are not reregistered until February 15 this year, they will be deactivated he noted. 

The communications service agency has reportedly applied to the government again, asking to extend the term of reregistration of the SIM cards.

According to data from the Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan, a total number of SIM cards in Tajikistan is more than 6.4 million, but only 4.8 million of them are active. 

Recall, only a type of passport introduced in 2014 now can be used for registration of SIM cards and all SIM cards that were registered with use of an old type of passport were supposed to be re-registered until August 15, 2019, but the government extended the deadline for re-registering SIM cards until February 15, 2020.    

Tajik authorities introduced new requirements for selling and registering SIM cards in February last year.  Only a type of passport introduced in 2014 can be used for registration of SIM cards.

Changes made to the government’s decree “On the Procedure and Requirements for Connection to Telecommunications Networks and the Provision of Services Related to Them” provides for introducing new requirements for selling SIM cards.  Tajikistan citizens are now allowed to buy only up to two SIM cards in all and only a type of passport introduced in 2014 can be used for registration of SIM cards.

The decree on making changes to the mentioned government’s decree was signed by the President on February 9 and took effect on February 15, 2019 after it was published in Jumhuriyat newspaper, an official mouthpiece of the Government of Tajikistan.

The electronic identification card was introduced in Tajikistan in March 2014.

An identification card is an official document, which identifies a person, including in various electronic systems, which is usually made in a format of a plastic card.  An identification card usually contains information about the holder of the card in text, machine-reading and electronic formats, including his/her photograph, name, personal number, specimen signature, and biometric information, written into an electronic chip or on a magnetic strip.

The decree reads the following: “With the aim of ensuring constitutional rights of citizens of the Republic of Tajikistan and public order, and based on Article 69 of the Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan, I hereby decree to issue identification cards for citizens of the Republic of Tajikistan as of 1 March, 2014.”