The introduction of SIM authentication a few months ago by the Ministry of Interior (Abshir) created a loud buzz across the Kingdom. All citizens are obligated to register their fingerprints to secure their numbers against theft and to also make the system safer.
Earlier, anyone who needed to register had to go to their respective SIM provider stores such as Zain, STC or Mobily and wait in queues to register their fingerprints to make sure their SIMs, whether post-paid or pre-paid, were authenticated.
However, Abshir recently initiated Wthiq, their online registration service, which has further eased the procedure without making a tiring trip to the provider stores around the city.
The new procedure comprises of a few steps that are as follows:
Anyone who needs to register his or her number must first have an Abshir account and log on to it. After logging in, locate the “E-Services” tab and from the drop down menu choose “Wthiq SIM card Authentication”.
The new page then shows a set of instructions to be followed, after reading them, you can click on the “Authenticate Voice or Data SIM” to proceed further. This will take you to the second page where you are required to choose your service provider and fill in your personal details to complete the step. After thoroughly reading the terms and conditions, click the accept button and move on to “Send the Authentication Request”.
The resulting page requires a confirmation of the authenticating request of the SIM, after which an SMS is sent to your number with a verification code. Enter the verification code on the computer screen and click on “Send Authentication Request”.
The last screen will then inform you that a message has been sent to your selected service provider and thereby the company will notify you when the authentication has been completed. To check the authentication, you can go to the very first screen and click on
“ Check Authentication Status”.
The system is created to identify the person with their SIM cards and even though the procedure has been made easier, all citizens have only 2 weeks to register their numbers, if not completed their numbers will be permanently blocked.
