Almost 1 million unverified phone numbers terminated

Nguyen Phong Nha, deputy head of the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority under the Ministry of Information and Communications, said telecom firms have terminated 985,000 numbers out of 1.15 million that were locked for both incoming and outgoing calls. Nha said these phone numbers have not updated their information to match with the national database.

Telecom providers warned unverified mobile phone number users with at least one text message a day for at least five days, requesting that users update their personal data, according to Nha.

If the registered personal information was not updated and verified after 15 days, the numbers were no longer able to make outgoing calls or text messages. With no updates for another 15 days after that, incoming calls and messages were barred. If the data was not yet updated for another 30 days, the numbers were terminated.

By the end of 2022, Vietnam boasted around 127 million phone numbers, mostly under Viettel, MobiFone, and VinaPhone. By mid-March this year, the firms said 3.84 million phone numbers had yet to verify their information.

The phone number verification process is one of many steps mapped out in a government project on national database development and digitization. Among its many goals, the project aims to foster social stability and prevent the inappropriate use of SIM cards.