KARACHI: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) disclosed that the cellular companies processed 47.4 million SIM cards against 35.6 million CNICs using the biometric verification system while 5.6 million SIMs were blocked by February 15.
Expressing its reservations about the tight deadline, the telecom industry initially said they have about 60,000 devices to verify 103 million people in 90 days, which translates to almost one million SIMs a day or 664 SIMs per minute.
The deadline for consumers with two or more SIMs was February 26 and for those with less SIMs was April 13. The fresh numbers, however, reflect the industry has been pushing hard and is well ahead of the target for it processed more than half the number in a month’s time, it added.
