Pakistan's Dilemma with Cellphones

Pakistan's Dilemma
with Cellphones

The Pakistan Telecommunication

Authority on Aug. 19 ordered

mobile phone service

providers to temporarily block service in

several Pakistani cities, including Lahore,

Quetta, Karachi and Multan. Interior

Minister Rehman Malik said

authorities enacted the ban to disrupt a

plot by Pakistani militants to stage attacks

on that date, during the Muslim

holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Mobile services

were intermittently suspended between

8 p.m. on Aug. 19 and 11 a.m. on Aug. 20.

After the suspension, Malik said the

Subscriber Identification Module card

verification system would be strengthened.

Fraudulent SIM cards would be

banned, Malik said, and pre-paid mobile

services should be banned altogether.

Militants in Pakistan have often used

fraudulently registered SIM cards to

communicate under false identities in

order to avoid electronic surveillance by

the government. They have even used

mobile phones to remotely detonate improvised

explosive devices. Malik's call

for a strengthened SIM registration system

and a ban on pre-paid phones is intended

to remove this tool for militants.

However, given the extremely widespread

use of pre-paid cellphones and

the government's inability to effectively

control their use, militants will be able

to acquire fraudulent SIM cards even if

reforms proceed.

SIM cards are interchangeable microchips

used in some mobile phones to

identify a subscriber and provide a telephone

number for a phone. While SIM

cards can be used in both pre-paid and

contract-service mobile phones, Malik's

ban, if implemented, would apply only

to pre-paid phones. Since pre-paid service

is much more cost-effective and does

not involve long-term financial obligations,

it is a popular choice for mobile

phone users in poorer countries such as

Pakistan. Pre-paid service is convenient

for mobile service providers in developing

countries, since it removes the need

to enforce payment plans arranged in

contracts.

Because SIM cards are easily transferred

between phones, mobile service

subscribers can switch phones with little

effort while maintaining the same

mobile service. Most countries, including

Pakistan, require SIM cards to be

registered or paired to the identity of a

user. In order to avoid identification by

law enforcement and intelligence agencies

during communications, both

criminals and militants in Pakistan frequently

use SIM cards registered under

another identity. Malik has repeatedly

called for new measures to reduce the

number of fraudulent SIM card registrations,

which he claims amount to half of

total registered SIM cards in Pakistan;

his calls have routinely been ignored by

mobile service providers.

Communicating with cellphones registered

under a false identity is among

the most basic and essential tactical

tools for militants operating in Pakistan.

Cellphones are used to plan or coordinate

many if not most attacks, as seen

most recently in the Aug. 16 attack on an

air force base in Kamra that Pakistani

authorities said was coordinated via

cellphones. Militants will therefore continually

look for new ways to evade

identification by the Pakistani government

during communication.

Militants are aware of law enforcement

and intelligence agencies' efforts

within Pakistan to monitor militant

communications and have found several

ways to circumvent the government's

requirement for properly

registering SIM cards. These methods

include theft, registering new SIM cards

using false documentation and bartering

for SIM cards already in use. Along

with frequent changes in mobile service

providers, these tactics allow militants

to continue communicating with one

another and complicate the government's

efforts to track communications.

For Pakistan, requiring mobile service

users to communicate with a phone or

SIM card legally registered in their name

could allow law enforcement to monitor

the communications of known militants

much more effectively; but a reform of

that magnitude is extremely unlikely. If

Malik's estimate is accurate, and half of

the SIM cards in use are registered

under a false identity, the reform would

require mobile service providers to

block half their pre-paid consumers -- a

significant financial loss for the companies.

Additionally, telecommunications

are a significant source of government

revenue, second only to the energy sector

at approximately 120 billion rupees

(about $1.2 billion) a year, which means

the government would also take a financial

hit if it banned pre-paid phones.

Pre-paid mobile phones are far more

popular in Pakistan than are contract

service phones, even among government

and military officials. Because of

their prevalence, militants will still be

capable of stealing, trading or purchasing

already registered SIM cards to coordinate

their violent activities against the

state, despite any measures taken by

mobile service companies or the Pakistani

government.