KUALA LUMPUR – The government is proposing to limit Malaysians to owning only two prepaid mobile numbers per telecommunications provider, Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching told Parliament today.
She said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is conducting a public enquiry on the proposal, which also includes capping foreign nationals to two prepaid numbers in total — regardless of the telco.
“By tightening these guidelines, we hope to reduce the misuse of prepaid SIM cards, which are often used to register social media accounts for fraud, spreading false information, or making threats,” Teo said during the Dewan Rakyat’s question-and-answer session.
The consultation is expected to conclude by the end of November, with the MCMC aiming to implement the new guidelines in the first quarter of 2026.
Under current rules introduced in 2017, individuals can register up to five prepaid numbers with each provider.
“This means a person could have five numbers from Maxis, five from Celcom, five from Digi, five from U Mobile and five from YTL — a rather large number of SIM cards for a single individual,” Teo said.
She was responding to a supplementary question from Sungai Petani MP Dr Mohammed Taufiq Johari, who asked about government measures to promote ethical artificial intelligence use and strengthen digital forensic capabilities under the MCMC. — October 22, 2025