Cell phone registration launched<\/p>\n
Anissa S. Febrina and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Attention all prepaid cellular card users. Grab your cell phone,
\ntype \"daftar\" (register) and send to 4444. Do it before April 28
\nnext year or risk losing your number.<\/p>\n
Starting on Thursday, those using prepaid cellular phone
\nnumbers are to eventually contact the number and send their
\npersonal data as required by a ministerial ruling.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Communications and Information, assisted by
\nall cellular operators, launched a public campaign to mark the
\nstart of the registration process.<\/p>\n
\"Spare the time to register and look at it as being a good
\ncitizen,\" said the ministry's director general for post and
\ntelecommunications, Basuki Yusuf Iskandar. \"We want to build a
\nmore responsible and productive utilization of communication
\ntechnology.\"<\/p>\n
The ministry requires cellular phone operators to identify
\ntheir prepaid card users nationwide and register them in response
\nto increasing cases of fraud and provocation through cellular
\nphone as well as undetected terrorist communications.<\/p>\n
\"There are too many crimes and acts of terror that use prepaid
\ncards,\" Minister Sofyan Djalil announced separately after
\nattending a ceremony at the vice presidential palace.<\/p>\n
\"No one knows the identity of million of users as there is no
\ndata on them. What can the police do should one of them be
\ninvolved in criminal activity through their cell phone?\" he said.<\/p>\n
In the ruling, which took effect on Nov. 1, the ministry made
\nit compulsory for cellular operators to compile names, addresses
\nand birth dates of their subscribers, backed up by copies of
\nidentity cards, passports, driver's licenses or student cards.<\/p>\n
However, the validation process to follow the registration is
\nstill under discussion with all cellular service providers, the
\ndirectorate general's public relations head Gatot S. Dewa Broto
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"We are discussing possibilities of cooperating with PT Pos
\nIndonesia and courier companies on how subscribers can best send
\nhard copies of their IDs for validation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
There are more than 40 million cellular phone subscribers, of
\nwhich over 90 percent are prepaid phone users.<\/p>\n
Operators said they had systems that had been previously used
\nto register prepaid subscribers voluntarily with certain
\nincentives.<\/p>\n
\"We are only maximizing the system, thus invested basically
\nnothing for this process,\" said Johnny Suwandi Sjam,
\nrepresentative of Cellular Operator Association -- comprising
\nTelkomsel, Indosat, Excelcomindo, Telkom's Flexi, Mobile-8's Fren
\nand Bakrie's Esia.<\/p>\n
So far, most cellular operators have only registered up to 25
\npercent of their prepaid subscribers.<\/p>\n
The operators, supported by the government, will set aside at
\nleast Rp 270 million (US$27,550) for a public campaign on the
\nregistration process.<\/p>\n
Registration process through free SMS<\/p>\n
1. Type \"daftar\" and send to 4444<\/p>\n
2. Each cellular operator will reply with different mechanisms
\nbut basically requiring subscribers to send:<\/p>\n
- name<\/p>\n
- address<\/p>\n
- ID card, driver's license, passport or student card number<\/p>\n
- place and date of birth<\/p>\n
3. If all data is complete, operators will reply confirming the
\nend of the registration process<\/p>\n
4. Validation process might require subscribers to send hard copy
\nof their ID card, driver's license, passport or student card but
\nmechanism is still under discussion<\/p>\n
5. Deadline for registration is April 28, 2006<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/cell-phone-registration-launched-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }