The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) of Saudi Arabia has started disconnecting unregistered mobile subscribers, which failed to submit their fingerprints in line with the new security measures introduced by the regulator in September last year. The CITC said the fingerprint registration is meant to protect personal information of SIM cardholders and prevent buyers from obtaining mobile phones using fake or stolen identification cards. All unregistered users will have a grace period of two weeks to submit their details, before the service is cut. The regulator said in its most recent report for the first quarter of 2016 that it expects a continued decline in the number of mobile subscriptions (standing at 50.9 million at the time) in the coming periods, as a direct result of the new registration programme.
