Despite inspection tours and tracking campaigns, junk simcards and ready-activated simcards are still available in the market. VietNamNet reporters, who have conducted mini surveys, have found that the number of agents violating the rules has decreased, but junk simcards still exist.

On November 2, at a simcard shop on Vu Trong Phung Street in Thanh Xuan district in Hanoi, the salesman gave reporters, who acted as buyers, a book with listed subscriber numbers and told them to choose the numbers they wanted. He said the prices of simcards vary, depending on a series of numbers.

When reporters asked about the way to activate simcards, the salesman said: “You need to wait some minutes. I’ll contact an officer of the telco. He will come directly to sales agent to implement procedures for activating the simcard."

But reporters said they could not wait and they wanted ready-activated simcards, the salesman gave them another book. Opening the books, reporters found subscribers of all the three largest mobile network operators – Viettel, VinaPhone and MobiFone. They were told that the prices of simcards were between VND170,000 and VND1.2 million.

VietNamNet reporters chose a Viettel simcard with the prefix ‘086’, checked information of the simcard and found that the registered owner of the subscriber was a woman with the name Nguyen Thi Loan, born in 1988.

“These are ready activated simcards. You just need to pay money to use immediately,” the salesman explained. The salesman promised a 3-month warranty.

“Hot spots’ about junk and ready-activated simcards can also be found in the districts of Ba Dinh and Cau Giay.

At a large simcard shop on Kim Ma Street in Ba Dinh district, the salesman gave a sheaf of ready-activated simcards issued by three telecom carriers, saying that buyers have to pay VND200,000 for a data simcard and VND120,000 simcard only used for sending messages and making calls.

The seller confirmed that these were ready activated simcards, and that if clients want the subscribers in their real names, they will have to go directly to transaction points to have the simcards activated.

“Since October 10, online registration has not been allowed,” he explained.

In an effort to re-establish orders in the mobile market and settle the problem of junk simcards, texts and calls, MIC has applied solutions to be sure that newly developed subscribers must register in their real names.

One of the solutions of the campaign is requesting mobile network operators to stop selling simcards via sales agents and stop standardizing subscriber’s information online. This aims at preventing people from exploiting the policy to register simcards not in the owners’ real names.

However, mobile network operators still violate the rule. Sale agents join hands with telcos’ officers to activate simcards online for new subscribers. Under the current regulation, buyers have to come directly to telcos’ transaction points to make registration directly.

VietNamNet reporters successfully bought a simcard and registered it at a sales agent on Truong Dinh Street in Hai Ba Trung District. 

After paying for the Viettel simcard with the prefix ‘096’ at VND250,000, the reporters were told to show an ID card for registration.

The seller took a picture of the ID card and simcard buyer, and posted the images to the system for activation through a specialized app. After that, the seller gave the phone to reporters and asked to talk directly to an officer of the telco.

“The woman you have talked to is the telco’s officer in charge of our locality. Only when the registration is approved by her will the simcard be activated,” the seller explained.

After a video call with the officer, the simcard was activated, and there was no need to go directly to any transaction point.

VietNamNet’s reporters also bought and registered VinaPhone simcards in Hoang Mai district.

MIC doesn’t accept online simcard activation, and sales agents are not allowed to activate new simcards. This rule aims to prevent junk simcards from entering the market.

Trong Dat - Ngo Minh - The Vinh