The government is preparing legal changes to cut the number of prepaid phone cards an individual can register with each telecom provider from 10 to three. Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau said the proposed limit is expected to reduce the chance of cards being used for fraud.
The cap would apply separately at each provider, rather than set a single limit across Hong Kong. A lawmaker noted that the city has 31 telecom providers and calculated that the proposal could therefore allow one person to register as many as 93 cards. He asked whether the government would consider an overall limit per person.
Yau said the government would study the question, while weighing providers’ operating conditions against residents’ practical needs. He also cited an analysis of provider statistics showing that about 98% of individual users register no more than three prepaid cards with each provider.
The proposed legal changes would also make it an offence to provide personal data to register a card for someone else without lawful authority or excuse. Other proposed offences would cover buying, selling, renting or lending a registered card, or otherwise supplying or obtaining one.
Yau also said the government plans to require phone-card registrations through iAM Smart. The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau is preparing the amendment details and plans to consult the public and telecom industry in the coming months.