This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 27, 2025 - November 2, 2025

Last Wednesday (Oct 22), Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching said the government plans to limit prepaid subscriber identity module (SIM) card registrations to two per telecommunications company (telco) for Malaysians and two in total for foreigners to tackle online fraud and misuse.

Currently, under the 2017 Prepaid User Registration Guidelines, individuals are allowed to register up to five prepaid SIM cards per telco.

It is worth noting that Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil had previously noted that Malaysia has 12 licensed telcos.

This means the proposed two per telco rule could, at least in theory, still allow a Malaysian to hold up to 24 prepaid SIM cards in total.

While the proposed framework marks progress in addressing online scams and misuse, it raises a practical question — what is the legitimate reason for one person to have more than one SIM card?

Today, most Malaysians manage with one or two numbers — a personal line and perhaps another for work or business. Even e-commerce sellers or small enterprises rarely juggle more than a few. And let’s face it, not even the busiest businessmen have reason to hold many SIM cards.

Allowing 24 SIM cards per person leaves plenty of room for abuse as individuals can register multiple lines and pass them on to others, including undocumented foreign workers or scammers who exploit anonymity to avoid detection.

That loophole is precisely what has made Malaysia fertile ground for untraceable accounts and online fraud.

As Teo highlighted in parliament, even investigative cases involving artificial intelligence-generated false images — including of the King of Malaysia — have stalled because authorities cannot trace the actual account holders behind them.

Now, if the government is serious about cracking down on digital fraud, half measures won’t do. Instead of a per telco limit, perhaps it should place a stricter cap on individuals, backed by stronger identity verification during registration and cross-telco data sharing to stop circumvention.

Otherwise, the new rule risks being another cosmetic fix — one that looks tough on paper but leaves room for abuse.

Because, really, no one needs 24 SIM cards. Unless the goal isn’t to communicate, but to conceal.

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