China is ramping up its efforts to crack down on unregistered SIMs, including by accelerating the registration process.
The government aims to clamp down on crimes committed with unregistered SIMs that are more difficult to track by police, state-owned news agency Xinhuasaid.
The Ministry for Industry and Information Technology, the Public Security Ministry and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce will all work to expedite the identity confirmation process as part of the crackdown.
In September 2013 the Chinese government introduced rules requiring all SIMs to be registered with real identities.
There are around 130 million unregistered SIMs - or “black cards” - in operation, according to the report. This includes up to 16% of the users of incumbent mobile operator China Mobile.
There were 157,000 reported cases involving phone scams and the online sale of user information last year alone.
The report adds that unregistered SIMs can also be used to spread prohibited pornographic content or organize serious crimes.