Thai regulator NBTC plans to establish a standard regional SIM registration platform covering prepaid services in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
The regulator has already signed agreements with Cambodia and Laos covering the joint registration scheme and plans to enter talks with Myanmar soon, the Bangkok Post reported.
Under the proposed scheme national identification cards and fingerprints would be used to register prepaid phones via a mobile app that will be developed by the NBTC.
The regulator has allocated around 10 million baht towards developing the registration software, and the other countries will invest in hardware required to set up a scheme in their countries.
Thailand has already introduced a national SIM registration scheme, and started cutting off unregistered SIMs last year. Under the proposal, this system would be expanded to cover the four countries.
Ultimately the collaboration would help create a single customer data pool among the countries, helping to prevent crimes including fraud, drug trading, trafficking and terrorism, the NBTC said.
The regulator anticipates that it could drive development of a unified registration system within 18 months.