The Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, has passed a law obliging mobile operators to register new prepaid SIM cards and the people who buy them. The measure, which comes into force from 2025, is aimed at fighting fraud and false bomb threats.
On Tuesday, 104 MPs voted in favour of the amendments to the Law on Electronic Communications, with one against and 23 abstentions.
The amendments stipulate that pre-paid communication services can only be provided to people who have given their name, surname, personal identification number and address, as well as the type, series and number of their identity document to the operators, while companies will have to give their name and number.
Currently, the three largest mobile operators that offer prepaid SIM cards under their services are Ežys, Labas, and Pildyk.
According to the Office of the Communications Regulator, in the second quarter of this year, there were more than 1.2 million users of prepaid SIM cards, accounting for almost 26 percent of all active users in the market.
The idea of registering SIM cards was proposed back in 2017 but received government approval only this year. It was decided that the damage caused by fraudsters and other criminals outweighed the future costs to mobile operators and the potential inconvenience to consumers.
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