HÀ NỘI — The Hà Nội Department of Information and Communications has set up inter-sector inspection teams to supervise the management of pre-paid SIM cards in the city from November 29 to December 31, department chief inspector Nguyễn Văn Minh said.

The city’s Department of Industry and Trade, police, market surveillance force and people’s committees at the district level joined the inspection.

The move came following a request by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) to retrieve pre-activated SIM cards across the country.

It is aimed at strengthening information security of mobile phone service users and cracking down on the illegal purchase of SIM cards and promotional programmes.

The inspection teams will check branches of telecom enterprises and SIM card stores of five large mobile phone operators in Việt Nam -- Vinaphone, Viettel, MobiPhone, Vietnamobile and Gtel.

The SIM card inspection team in Hà Nội will check whether the stores are following legal requirements, such as business licence or whether the stores are selling unregistered SIM cards.

Violators may be subjected to administrative penalties, from VNĐ200,000 (US$8.9) to VNĐ20 million ($890), depending on the violation scale.

Đỗ Hữu Trí, MIC deputy chief inspector, said Hà Nội accounts for a large number of mobile phone numbers. The unregistered SIM card crackdown in the city is playing an important role in dealing with the issue nationally.

This month, MIC decided to retrieve more than 10 million pre-activated or unregistered SIM cards. Pre-activated SIM cards have been registered by SIM card agents with fake names and sold to customers.

In an effort to crack down on disturbing advertising or cheating messages sent by unknown phone number holders, the MIC asked SIM card buyers or subscribers to go to telecom firm branches and provide personal information to the service provider before the service is activated. — VNS