Hungarian lawmakers tightened rules on pre-paid SIM cards last year amid concerns they could be easily resold to criminals or terrorists.

The rules required telcos to check and confirm the personal data of all pre-paid subscribers by the end of June.

Around 4 million pre-paid SIM cards were affected by the changes and 2.7 million were registered and identified by the deadline.

The NMHH again said that pre-paid subscribers who failed to reconcile their data had their contracts cancelled, but added that the law does not prevent them from signing new contracts to keep their numbers and their balances.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.