Tourists beware: Prepaid SIM cards now valid for only three months in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — Are you a vacationer in Malaysia? Your pay as you go SIM card from Malaysian telcos will solely be legitimate for a most of three months, primarily based on the regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Fee’s (MCMC) new guidelines.

Underneath the brand new guidelines that had been launched and got here into impact at the moment, right here’s what it is best to know as a vacationer:

1.    You will need to register your pay as you go SIM card if you’re utilizing a Malaysian telco’s pay as you go providers

To register the pay as you go SIM card:

• You will have to indicate your unique passport and in addition your unique visa (if a visa is required to enter Malaysia);
• Photocopies, images, or scanned copies of your passport or visa can’t be used for the registration;
• This info will probably be recorded: Your full identify in passport, passport quantity, passport issuing nation, and passport expiry date.
• Your resort or short-term residential handle in Malaysia may also be recorded throughout registration.

In keeping with the foundations, the telco will confirm the place you might be at the moment staying, for instance, by referring to a resort reservation or reserving kind.

You will get your pay as you go SIM card registered on the telco’s service centre or an authorised seller.

As a non-Malaysian, you’ll solely be allowed to register a most of two pay as you go SIM playing cards per telco in Malaysia.

Don’t use a pay as you go SIM card if it was activated earlier than you registered it, as that is strictly prohibited by MCMC.

After registration is accomplished and verified, you’ll be knowledgeable inside 12 hours of your pay as you go SIM card’s activation standing.

2.    Your vacationer SIM card will expire in three months after registration

In keeping with MCMC’s Steadily Requested Questions on the brand new guidelines: 

“You should utilize the SIM card for a most interval of three (3) months from the date of profitable registration. 

“Upon expiry of the three-month interval, the SIM card will probably be routinely terminated”.

This set of recent guidelines by MCMC is named the Fee Dedication on the Obligatory Requirements for the Registration of Finish-Customers of Pay as you go Public Mobile Providers, Dedication No. 1 of 2026.

The MCMC stated these Obligatory Requirements are geared toward defending customers from id misuse, unauthorised use of private knowledge, scams, and unauthorised SIM use, whereas additionally sustaining handy entry to cellular providers.