Pakistan weighs iris biometrics for SIM registration as identity theft persists

Pakistani officials are considering adding iris biometrics to SIM card registration after concluding that fingerprint-based verification alone has failed to curb identity theft and fraudulent SIM use.

The proposal reflects growing recognition that relying on a single biometric modality can leave identity systems vulnerable to compromise.

The idea to strengthen the SIM registration system was shared recently with the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control, Dawn reports. The Minister of State for Interior, Tallal Chaudhry, told the committee that the existing biometric system had become obsolete as incidents of identity theft using unidentified SIM cards had continued to pose a problem.

According to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, around 1.83 million illegal SIM cards were blocked in the first seven months of 2026, but the presence of scammers within the country remains very strong. Massive SIM card blocks have taken place in the country since at least the past five years.

Chaudhry said it was his view that introducing an additional security layer through iris scans could help ameliorate the situation and close the existing gaps, which have, in many cases, led to huge financial losses.

Early this year, government authorities raised an alarm on the proliferation of illegal international SIM cards, which they said were being used to commit crime in the country, including kidnappings.

Philippines seeks SIM registration amendment

Like in Pakistan, Philippines is also considering an amendment to the country’s legal framework for SIM registration in order to strengthen the process and make it more responsive in combating crime.

Ghana campaign to begin before year-end

While Pakistan and Philippines are looking to rejig their legal frameworks, Ghana has announced that its own SIM card re-registration exercise will get underway before the end of this year.

This is according to a statement by Ghana’s Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, while speaking on September 7 during a governance accountability series at the presidency, according to Joy News.

He said the imminent rollout of the biometric registration exercise follows the passage by parliament of the legal framework. Authorities say the new SIM registration dispensation will make it difficult for improperly registered SIM cards to be activated.

Does SIM registration reduce crime?

The developments in Pakistan, Philippines and Ghana come as biometric SIM card registration has continued to gain traction around the world, with many countries increasingly implementing the initiative.

At least 150 countries in the world have implemented or are in the process of implementing a SIM card registration initiative with many of the governments citing national security and crime prevention objectives, according to commercial travel eSIM provider Simology.

But despite the belief that SIM registration can help countries curb crime, that has effectively not been the case in some instances, argues a Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) analysis. The writer notes that while the efforts are commendable, the policy is not a panacea for national security or cybercrime. True security, the author argues, will ultimately rely not just on registering the user’s SIM card, but on securing the entire digital ecosystem they inhabit.

In Nigeria, where a SIM registration process was launched in 2020, the government used the argument of curbing crimes such as terrorism and kidnapping. But two years after, there were concerns that the move had done little in providing a solution to these problems.

Article Topics

identity verification  |  iris biometrics  |  multimodal biometrics  |  Pakistan  |  SIM card registration