Pakistani operators sell Sims through contracted outlets

Pakistani mobile operators have begun selling new Sim cards at retail outlets, possibly violating earlier directions of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

They are directly violating laws issued by the PTA in December.
According to the laws SIMS can be issued directly by franchises not through retailers as per the PTA’s standing operating procedures. The directive of 6 December also withdrew the earlier requirement to ask customers for a second ID, the requirement to mail Sims to the customer’s home address, and the ban on mobile number portability.

operators have allowed selected retail outlets to sell SIMs , retailers had SIMs already stocked with them and now they are given the nod to start selling the SIMs — after getting the data verified by NADRA.

cellular companies had to halt new sales, SIM replacements from retail outlets due to PTA’s directive issued on December 7th, 2012 (produced below). New acquisitions were badly impacted as sales had dramatically dropped due to this ban of selling SIMs on retail outlets.