PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Gromyko Wilson is pleading with the government and Members of Parliament to work on a law regulating all prepaid phone numbers. Such phone numbers should be registered with a name and address, according to the customer’s official ID card or passport.
“Times have changed and going into a store/shop to buy a prepaid phone number must stop. It needs to be that everyone has to register their prepaid number with their local phone company,” Wilson said.
“There are malicious people using this to harm others, and the lawman’s hands are tied. (They) cannot do much when it comes to malicious people … inflicting serious damage to others, and then going into hiding,” he continued.
Wilson is appealing to Minister of TEATT Grisha Heyliger and Minister of Justice Nathalie Tackling to start a motion that will become law, where the phone number is tied to someone’s ID card or passport. This is to facilitate investigations into cases where the phone number was used in any wrongdoing.
Phone numbers registered to a minor should have their ID (if they’re 12 or younger based on the country laws), and their parent or guardian’s ID or passport information tied to the number. Persons then need to understand that they become fully responsible for the registered number.
Phone companies here should encourage their subscribers – through special campaigns – to register their prepaid number. Subscribers who fail to register will have an inactive number until they register it.
Should the Government start such an initiative now, by February 2027 all numbers will be 100% registered. “It all depends on how serious our leaders are in making this law. This will help prevent people using prepaid phone numbers for malicious intentions,” Wilson concluded.
