A draft law submitted to the Turkish parliament for approval establishes a comprehensive reform of the mobile subscription system in Turkey. The proposal introduces a number of important new features, including restrictions on the use of mobile lines by foreigners, mandatory electronic identity checks for all users and a limit on the number of lines each person can register.
According to Turkish media reports, the draft law, included in a new legislative package submitted to Turkey’s Grand National Assembly, proposes drastic changes to Law No. 5809 on Electronic Communications. The legislative initiative, which affects millions of subscribers and the country’s main mobile phone operators, aims to curb the use of lines for fraudulent activities and financial crimes, while the Turkish government – which has a majority in the chamber to pass the law – says it will mark the beginning of a stricter phase in the verification, number assignment and control of lines linked to non-Turkish citizens.
One of the most important new features of the law, which will soon come into force once it has passed through the parliamentary approval process, are the new security requirements for registering a mobile phone line. With the reform, telephone operators will no longer be able to activate lines using documents that do not include the option of electronic verification, even if they are considered ‘official documents’: in other words, at the time of registration, the user’s identity will have to be confirmed by biometric data – facial identity or fingerprint – or by authentication passwords.
The bill also obliges to monitor the so-called ‘open lines’ problem and to keep subscriber information up to date; thus, operators will be obliged to consult the competent authorities every 3 months to confirm the non-deceased and legal status of all their customers, and the telephone lines of those subscribers whose status cannot be verified will be cancelled. In addition, the number of mobile lines per person set by the Information and Communication Technology Authority (BTK) will not be allowed to be exceeded, so that companies will not provide service to the phone lines of users who exceed the maximum limit.
New regulations for the use of mobile lines by foreigners
The regulation also incorporates new specific procedures for foreigners and immigrants. Namely:
– Special numbering blocks: foreign citizens will receive differentiated prefixes for their mobile phone lines.
– Verification by the Directorate of Immigration: if the user does not have a valid document for electronic identification, his or her identity, facial or fingerprint data will be checked in the immigration department’s database.
– Diplomatic exception: members of the diplomatic corps posted in Turkey and their families will be exempted from the stipulations of this law.
The new legislation provides for a 6-month adaptation period for foreign subscribers; after this period, non-Turkish citizens who cannot verify their identity or cannot adapt their mobile lines to the new law will have their lines suspended within one month after the end of the stipulated period. In addition, fines of 20,000 liras (400 euros) per offending line will be imposed on GSM operators who fail to comply with the law.
The Turkish government argues in the law’s explanatory memorandum that mobile lines are frequently used in crimes such as theft, scam and bank card fraud, and that the proliferation of uncontrolled new customer registrations makes investigations difficult, so the legislative reform aims to quickly identify and deactivate lines used for such criminal activities.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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