Sim Card Registration
I just saw news clip today with regards to mandatory SIM card registration for prepaid subscribers. Well, I have no problem with that. In fact, it's about time that we have to do that. It protects consumers and public in general in several ways, such as mobile phone theft, credit theft by telcos, national security etc.
As usual, the idea is not bad. But the success of such measure can only be known through effective implementation. And through effective implementation we don't mean manual registration of SIM cards by any retailers, specially small retailers. As the telcos will always be reluctant in implementing SIM card registration for prepaid subscribers for reason that it will cut through the bulk of their revenue, an automated approach will help to carry out the enforcement of SIM card registration.
One that will make sense is for the telcos to open up an API that will be called by third-party developers to create in-store Qt-based registration software which can be based on Personal Information Management(PIM) specifications. The API can be deployed as a web service, remote procedure call or even through instant messaging via Jabber. Of course, every registration has a corresponding transaction fee which can be charged from the cost of the SIM card. Also, failure to register prepaid SIM card within one hour of activation will prompt a server-side action to invalidate the SIM card.
There's a lot of opportunities and possibilities that goes with SIM card registration. These are just a few of what I have in mind.
As usual, the idea is not bad. But the success of such measure can only be known through effective implementation. And through effective implementation we don't mean manual registration of SIM cards by any retailers, specially small retailers. As the telcos will always be reluctant in implementing SIM card registration for prepaid subscribers for reason that it will cut through the bulk of their revenue, an automated approach will help to carry out the enforcement of SIM card registration.
One that will make sense is for the telcos to open up an API that will be called by third-party developers to create in-store Qt-based registration software which can be based on Personal Information Management(PIM) specifications. The API can be deployed as a web service, remote procedure call or even through instant messaging via Jabber. Of course, every registration has a corresponding transaction fee which can be charged from the cost of the SIM card. Also, failure to register prepaid SIM card within one hour of activation will prompt a server-side action to invalidate the SIM card.
There's a lot of opportunities and possibilities that goes with SIM card registration. These are just a few of what I have in mind.
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