According to a statement from Brazil's regulator Anatel, the users of some four million prepaid mobile handsets in Brazil could have their services blocked if they do not register their personal details by 18 January 2004. The figure is equivalent to 12% of the 32,369,120 million prepaid mobile lines in Brazil (source: EMC World Cellular Database, December 2003). The 10,600,260 subscribers with postpaid plans (source: EMC World Cellular Database, December 2003) are unaffected.
Customers must register their names, identification and tax numbers and addresses. If they do not meet the deadline, their service will be blocked until they register and they will be fined BRR 5, which will be paid into the federal government's security fund.
Operators are allowed to deduct the fine from prepaid accounts and will be held responsible by Anatel for the accuracy of the registrations. Anatel introduced the measure after police investigations revealed gangs of criminals were using unregistered mobile phones to avoid identification.<
