A law amendment proposal to reduce the number of prepaid SIM cards per user from 10 to three is not robust enough to deter rampant phone scams, according to Hong Kong lawmakers, who called for a more holistic approach to handling the issue
Hong Kong authorities have proposed reducing the maximum number of prepaid SIM cards a user can register with one of the 29 telecommunications service providers in the city from 10 to just three, according to a paper submitted to the Legislative Council.
This means each user can register up to 87 SIM cards based on a quota of three per person.
“The effect [of the piece of the proposed law] might be discounted,” lawmaker Ronick Chan Chun-ying said.
He proposed further capping the maximum number of prepaid SIM cards per user.
Lawmaker Peter Shiu Ka-fai considered the number of 87 “sizeable” and recommended registering with a limit of four telecommunications service providers, which would translate to 12 prepaid SIM cards per user.
Lawmaker Doreen Kong Yuk-foon agreed with Shiu’s suggestion and cited other jurisdictions having limits of eight, 10 and 12 while pointing out that Hongkongers should not be paying the price of scams for a free industry.
