Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) sets a new rule: starting January 1, each customer can activate a maximum of five SIMs per NID to prevent irregularities and misuse.
Dhaka, December 27, 2025: The government of Bangladesh is taking a stricter stance on mobile SIM usage. To prevent irregularities and misuse, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has introduced a new regulation. From January 1, 2026, each customer will be allowed to activate a maximum of five SIM cards using their National Identity Card (NID).
Under the new rule, individuals currently holding six to ten SIMs will have their numbers gradually reduced to five. The BTRC emphasized that this decision is aimed at minimizing irregularities and misuse, although mobile operators have expressed objections, similar to previous regulations.
Bangladesh currently ranks ninth globally in SIM usage, trailing countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.
According to BTRC’s latest data, as of October 2025, there are approximately 187.97 million mobile users in Bangladesh. Among them, Grameenphone has 85.9 million, Robi 57.5 million, Banglalink 37.9 million, and Teletalk 6.67 million users. The total number of registered SIMs in the country is 266.3 million, with around 190 million active SIMs, and the remainder inactive.
Previously, in August 2025, the BTRC instructed that any individual holding more than ten active SIMs must cancel or transfer the excess SIMs by October 30. At that time, there were approximately 6.7 million SIMs registered under such cases. Over the past three months, about 1.5 million SIMs were voluntarily canceled by users. However, nearly 5 to 5.3 million SIMs remain unaddressed. The remaining SIMs will be deactivated gradually through the respective mobile operators if not canceled within the stipulated period.
