Dhaka: State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim on Wednesday said they would deploy mobile teams to stop the harassment during the ongoing SIM re-registration process using biometric system.

‘The mobile teams of ministry and telecom regulator would oversee whether the customers are facing any harassment during the registration. If any complaint detected, the cellular phone operators have to pay for it,’ the minister told newsmen in city’s Mirpur after witnessing SIM registration process in different areas.

Replying to a query about the number of teams deployed for the job, she said, ‘There are some teams working on different issues such as checking illegal handsets and they will do it.’

‘The mobile teams would start work from today and collect complaints from everyone. If requires, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the operators would be called today or tomorrow,’ added the state minister.

Earlier, at a meeting with CEOs and representatives of cell phone operators on Jan 28, Tarana Halim threatened to cancel permits of mobile retailers if they charged subscribers for registration.

The government introduced the registration with biometric details officially on Dec 16 last year aiming to ensure the actual ownership of cellular phone number.

Subscribers now have to provide fingerprints for buying SIM cards while owners of previously issued SIMs will have to register in the new process by April.

Referring to complaint against a customer care center of Grameenphone in city’s Nabisco intersection, Tarana Halim said: ‘I received complaints that they (customer care centre officials) were mistreating the people during the re-registration and not working sincerely. But, today they are working well that means they have information about my visit.’

Posts and Telecommunications Division Secretary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury, BTRC Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood and officials concerned accompanied the minister during the visit.