Farangs Have To Register Their Sim Cards

[bambob]

Service stopped if not registered by year-end

SRISAMORN PHOOSUPHANUSORN

Owners of all prepaid mobile phones have until the end of the year to register their SIM cards or their service will be temporarily suspended.

Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng has set July 1 as the effective date for owners who already have prepaid-phone SIM cards to register them, with a six-month grace period.

The measure is aimed at preventing SIM cards from being used to detonate bombs in the South.

Since May 10, the government has required buyers of new prepaid-phone SIM cards to show proper identification, such as a citizen's ID card or a passport, but not all have done so.

The Information, Communications and Technology Ministry has prepared a standard form for registration and will send it to the cabinet for approval.

Kanawat Wasingsungworn, assistant to the ICT minister, said registration can be done at tambon administration organisation, municipality and district offices, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration district offices, TOT and CAT Telecom offices, electricity and waterworks offices, police stations, mobile phone dealers and Thai embassies worldwide.

Civil servants, employees of state enterprises, soldiers and policemen can fill out the forms at work of at a post office.

TOT will handle public relations, in collaboration with mobile phone operators, who will fund the campaign.

Mr Kanawat said CAT Telecom would work with the Customer Protection Office and the National Telecommunications Commission on the matter of owners who fail to register.

About 300,000 new prepaid phone SIM cards had been bought since May 10, with 20% of buyers registering their personal details, he said.

from BKK POst.com

[Totster]

Oh well.... no more making harrassing phone calls for me then....

totster

[OxfordWill]

Thats gonna be a real pain.

[RDN]

Oh well.... no more making harrassing phone calls for me then.... 

totster   

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ha! So it WAS you!

[Abandon]

I heard the people will have to show work permits to register - making things doubly a pain in the butt. Is this right?

[camerata]

I heard the people will have to show work permits to register - making things doubly a pain in the butt.  Is this right?

Last year the Bangkok Bank asked me to produce my work permit to get a new bank book for an account which I opened (without a work permit) nearly 30 years ago.

Since I didn't have it with me, in the end they accepted just my passport.

[Heng]

I'd wager that they don't enforce it.

[Abandon]

Well according to another thread here, TRUE are enforcing it for opening or changing accounts. Highly unfair to long term tourists, retirees, religious residents, students etc... who do not have a work permit.

Last year the Bangkok Bank asked me to produce my work permit to get a new bank book for an account which I opened (without a work permit) nearly 30 years ago. 

That is really annoying Cam .. glad they let you go with it in the end. Siam Commercial said something similar to me, but did not actually ask me for the WP, though I was only setting up a direct debit for my phone bill.

[bambob]

Looks like regular trippers will now have to contact their local Thai embassy to register their SIMS.

i doubt it will have any effect on the bombs in the south as there are too many SIMs in circulation , so MrThaksin is wasting his time. but he has created a whole new tier of beaurocracy ,which will need tons of civil servants

[camerata]

That is really annoying Cam .. glad they let you go with it in the end. Siam Commercial said something similar to me, but did not actually ask me for the WP, though I was only setting up a direct debit for my phone bill.

Yes, it seems that in recent years a work permit has become the badge of respectability that separates "legitimate" residents from the tourists and criminals. As I recall, the banks tighter controls had something to do with anti-money laundering laws.

A few months ago, I managed to get an ADSL service from True with just a passport and no letter from the condo/telephone owner. But they send the bills to the owner's address!

[camerata]

Looks like regular trippers will now have to contact their local Thai embassy to register their SIMS.

i doubt it will have any effect on the bombs in the south as there are too many SIMs in circulation , so MrThaksin is wasting his time. but he has created a whole new tier of beaurocracy ,which will need tons of civil servants

I was reminded of Thaksin's attitude to SIM cards - and everything else - last week while watching the old Chinese TV series about China's first emperor. After the first assassination attempt (with a dagger, not as depicted in the film Hero), Emperor Chin commanded that all swords/knives in the kingdom be melted down and made into four enormous statues for his palace, which caused a lot of hardship for the common people. Of course, there was more resentment and the assassination attempts didn't stop.

Emperor Chin's response to anyone who crossed him was: "EXECUTE THEM!!" And when scholars quoted Confucious to point out Chin's errors, he had all the sage's books burned and the scholars buried alive.

[Abandon]

Looks like regular trippers will now have to contact their local Thai embassy to register their SIMS.

i doubt it will have any effect on the bombs in the south as there are too many SIMs in circulation , so MrThaksin is wasting his time. but he has created a whole new tier of beaurocracy ,which will need tons of civil servants

I was reminded of Thaksin's attitude to SIM cards - and everything else - last week while watching the old Chinese TV series about China's first emperor. After the first assassination attempt (with a dagger, not as depicted in the film Hero), Emperor Chin commanded that all swords/knives in the kingdom be melted down and made into four enormous statues for his palace, which caused a lot of hardship for the common people. Of course, there was more resentment and the assassination attempts didn't stop.

Emperor Chin's response to anyone who crossed him was: "EXECUTE THEM!!" And when scholars quoted Confucious to point out Chin's errors, he had all the sage's books burned and the scholars buried alive.

Shhhhhhh ... You'll give the esteemed PM ideas