Hon. Eranga Weeraratne - Deputy Minister of Digital Economy

Deputy Minister Weeraratne outlined the rationale for a new SIM card re-registration regulation, citing significant gaps in existing subscriber identity records from the 2019 regulation. He noted that 897,802 individual SIMs and 245,811 corporate SIMs currently lack properly verified identity linkage in operators' systems, and that these unverified SIMs are being exploited for fraud and criminal activity. The regulation requires holders of such SIMs to provide their details to operators within approximately two months, after which non-compliant SIMs will be deactivated. He emphasised that law-abiding subscribers with correctly registered SIMs would be unaffected, and that the measure is necessary to provide police with accurate data and address SIM-enabled crime.

Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eranga Weeraratne moved a procedural motion requesting that Hon. Lakshman Nipuna Arachchi assume the Chair during the parliamentary session.