Tajik authorities have introduced new requirements for selling SIM cards. If earlier, Tajikistan citizens had been allowed to buy up to two SIM cards in each of four cellular companies operating in the country, now they are allowed to buy only up two SIM cards in all. Only a type of passport introduced in 2014 can be used for registration of SIM cards.
Changes made to the government’s decree “On the Procedure and Requirements for Connection to Telecommunications Networks and the Provision of Services Related to Them” provides for introducing new requirements for selling SIM cards. Tajikistan citizens are now allowed to buy only up to two SIM cards in all and only a type of passport introduced in 2014 can be used for registration of SIM cards.
The decree on making changes to the mentioned government’s decree was signed by the President on February 9 and took effect on February 15 after it was published in Jumhuriyat newspaper, an official mouthpiece of the Government of Tajikistan.
The communication service agency should re-register all SIM cars that were registered with use of an old type of passport within six months beginning on February 15. .
The cost of the type of passport introduced in 2014 is 94.3 somoni.
Besides, responsible persons should provide the SIM card selling stores with surveillance cameras.
Currently, only four cellular companies are active in Tajikistan: Babilon-Mobile; Tcell; Megafon-Tajikistan; and Beeline.
Up to 2016 it was estimated that 70% of active SIM cards had been sold in Tajikistan without producing proper identification. Authorities are worried that unregistered SIM cards are making their way into the hands of terrorists. A campaign to confiscate ‘illegally-sold’ SIM cards was conducted in 2016.
The government started a second registration or re-registration of all SIM cards in 2017. From November 2017, SIM card owners must bring their passport or other official ID documentation and their SIM to one of the cellco’s service centers to register their identity in compliance with the order. All new SIM cards are now legally only given out at the provider stores. This applies to visitors and tourists as well.
Control over the internet tightened in 2016 when laws for blocking of internet and telephone services during so-called 'counterterrorism operations' were introduced. Tajikistan adopted a law prohibiting the use of unidentified SIM cards.
Since 2017, Tajikistan citizens had been allowed to buy up to two SIM cards from one operator. Any additional SIMs per person are blocked. Parents buying SIMs for their children need to present a birth certificate. In summer 2017 around 20% of all SIM cards in Tajikistan were disconnected, after the users failed to register their personal details.
