The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said the ‘My Number, My Identity’ campaign, which was launched last year, has entered its fifth phase in line with its timeline.

The campaign was initiated by the TRA in collaboration with the two licensees (Etisalat and du) to increase mobile subscriber awareness on the new registration procedures for mobile phone services.

It also aims to highlight the important role that subscribers have in protecting their SIM cards to maintain their privacy to avoid any misuse that may occur, since the registered subscriber of the number will be legally and financially accountable, said a statement from UAE telecom regulator.

The subscribers and licensees (Etisalat and Du) are participating in the process of updating information and registration in order to put into action the new policies and procedures set by the “My Number, My Identity” campaign which has a timeline of 18 months until the beginning of 2014 and divided into six stages in order to successfully include the whole country in the registration process.

As of now, the licensees (Etisalat and Du) have finished targeting four groups of subscribers and will now target around 4 million subscribers during the remaining stages of the campaign.

TRA director general Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim said the campaign focuses on the procedures that will be taken by TRA in order to ensure the transparency in dealing with mobile subscribers and protecting their privacy if misuse occurs by users who use mobile services not registered under their names.

According to latest statistics registered in August, more than 12 million subscribers have registered and updated their data packages. "This number continues to increase as more subscribers register," he stated.

Al Ghanim called upon subscribers to register and update their data in order to avoid disconnection of their service.

"The licensees suspended the service for almost three million subscribers who were late in updating their information during the last phases of the campaign. (Suspension means that a mobile subscriber cannot make an outgoing call but can receive incoming calls and text messages.)," he revealed.

"Also, Etisalat and Du have started to gradually cease the service of subscribers who were targeted during the previous stages. This means that those was informed to update their information and were late in doing so even after their service was suspended for three months," noted the official.

"The total number of subscribers whose subscriptions have been ceased has risen to almost two million," he added.-TradeArabia News Service