Grameenphone Ltd., the largest telecommunications company of the country thanks its customer for voluntarily re-registering their SIM through the biometric process.

As of May 31, 2016, Grameenphone has 51. 7 million biometrically registered customers, which is around 90% of the subscriber base of the company.

Grameenphone CEO Rajeev Sethi thanked subscribers for trusting GP as their preferred mobile operator and stressed that the company was energized and would “continue our effort to respect your trust by providing best services at an affordable cost in the country.”

From January 2016 the government initiated the re-registration of mobile phone subscribers through the biometric process. Through this process customer’s NID and fingerprint is verified by the Election commission (EC) against EC’s Database.

According to the government directive all unregistered SIMs have been deactivated from zero hour of June 1, 2016. However, customers who have not been able to re-register can re-activate their connection any time from June 1 by completing the biometric process. Unregistered customers have to bring a copy of their National Identity (NID) Card, a passport size photograph and the inactive SIM for biometric registration at any of the biometric point of Grameenphone. The registration will be free of cost until further notice.

The owners of unregistered SIMs will be able to register their SIM within 18 months from June 1, 2016, after that, mobile operators will have the discretion to sell these SIMs as new connections.