BTRC caps SIMs at 10 per NID; up to 3.8cr cards at risk

Bangladesh’s telecom regulator has enforced a cap of 10 active SIM cards per national ID, with any additional numbers to be deactivated from Saturday (November 1).

In a recent notice, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said extra SIMs will be disabled automatically starting from November. 

Users who do not proactively deactivate surplus lines risk losing service on significant numbers registered under their NID.

The limit replaces the previous ceiling of 15. 

BTRC announced on July 30 that the cap would be lowered to 10, with deactivations beginning in November. Customers seeking to deregister extra SIMs must contact their operators’ customer care.

BTRC Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Emdadul Bari said operators began disabling surplus SIMs on Saturday and that, by December, no NID would have more than 10 active SIMs.

Industry data show 18.62 crore active SIMs as of March 2025 against an estimated 6.75 crore unique customers. Over 80% of users hold fewer than five SIMs; roughly 16% have six to 10, and only about 3% use more than 10. 

According to BTRC officials, the move aims to restore discipline in SIM management and curb fraud. Users can check how many SIMs are registered to their NID online or by dialing *16002#.

The regulator says random selection will be used for disconnections, meaning some customers’ primary numbers could be disconnected if they exceed the cap.

Following a public security advisory, BTRC is also preparing to seek final government guidance on reducing the per-person limit further, from 10 to seven. Mobile operators have objected, warning that such a cut would render 3.8 crore SIMs held by approximately 12 million customers unusable.

Operators argue that SIM reductions would hurt government revenue—by an estimated Tk 2,000 crore annually—and contend anti-fraud efforts should focus on data security and enforcement rather than limiting SIM counts.

BTRC notes that a separate numbering series is being rolled out for IoT services and states that there is no clear rationale for individuals to hold 10 SIMs. By comparison, current caps allow nine SIMs per person in India, five in Pakistan and 10 in the Maldives.