reference · Reviewed 28 August 2026
SIM Glossary: Every Code, Body and Rule in Plain Words
Here are 43 short definitions covering every code, office, rule and law that comes up when you check the SIMs on your own CNIC. Each entry is two or three sentences, built on official sources. simchecker.pk is an independent explainer with no link to PTA, NADRA, NCCIA or any operator, and none of the checks defined below opens another person’s record — each answers about your own SIMs, or at most names a network.
Codes and services
Start with the tools themselves. Every service in this group is official, cheap or free, and answers one narrow question about you.
668
PTA’s SMS service for counting your SIMs. Text your 13-digit CNIC, with no dashes, to 668 from your own phone; the reply tells you how many SIMs each operator holds against that CNIC. It costs about Rs 2 including tax, and charges may apply. Full steps are in the codes band on our homepage.
667
The verification code inside PTA’s number-porting system. Text the word MNP to 667 from the SIM in your phone, and the reply carries that SIM’s own registration record: the number, the registered name and CNIC, the IMSI, the activation date and the connection type. It answers only for the SIM that sent the message, so it can never open anyone else’s record. Jazz prices it at about Rs 2 plus tax; other operators may differ.
76367
PTA’s network-check code. Text the letter N, a space, then the full mobile number to 76367 for Rs 2 plus tax, and the reply tells you which network currently serves that number. A network name is all it gives — nothing about any person.
MNP
Mobile Number Portability: the system that lets you keep your existing number while switching to a different operator. The 667 message above is the first step of that process, which is why it exists at all.
Porting
The everyday word for using MNP — carrying your number from one network to another. Your digits stay the same while the company behind them changes. Because millions of numbers have ported, a number’s opening digits no longer prove which network serves it.
USSD code
A code built from *, # and digits, entered on the dial pad, that brings back an instant reply on screen. Operators publish their own USSD codes in their guides, including ones reported to show the number of the SIM you are holding; they are operator services, not PTA ones.
Short code
A dialling address only a few digits long, reserved for a single service — 668, 667 and 76367 all work this way. Text it exactly as shown, and the same service answers no matter which operator’s SIM you send from.
cnic.sims.pk
The address of PTA’s free web check. Open cnic.sims.pk, enter your 13-digit CNIC without dashes, tick the reCAPTCHA box and press Submit; your SIM count per operator appears on screen. Foreign nationals use the separate Foreign ID tab instead of the CNIC tab.
SIM Information System
The formal name of the PTA portal at cnic.sims.pk. Keep it apart from DIRBS: the SIM Information System counts SIMs against a CNIC, while DIRBS handles phones and their IMEI numbers. Both self-checks are walked through in the methods band.
RAABTA / PTA Digital Assistant
PTA’s two chat helpers. RAABTA is the chatbot on PTA’s website; the PTA Digital Assistant on WhatsApp, at 0315-0055055, gives menu-based guidance on telecom services and complaint procedures, per PTA’s release of 25 February 2026. Neither shows your SIM count — both direct you to 668 or the portal for that.
PTA helpline 0800-55055
PTA’s toll-free Consumer Support Centre, open 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week, per PTA’s 2020 announcement. Since February 2026, PTA says 0800 numbers are free to call from mobiles as well. Ring it when a code or portal result leaves you with a question.
reCAPTCHA
The small Google checkbox beside the word Verify on the cnic.sims.pk page. It exists so that software cannot feed CNICs into the form by the thousand. A real person ticks it once and moves on.
Identity and registration
These terms describe who you are on paper and how a SIM gets tied to you. Two different serial numbers — IMSI and IMEI — cause most of the mix-ups, so both sit here.
CNIC
The Computerised National Identity Card, issued by NADRA, with a 13-digit number printed on it. No SIM is sold in Pakistan without being registered against one, which makes that number the key to counting your own lines. The official checks want it typed without dashes.
SIM
Subscriber Identity Module: the chip that connects a phone number to the person registered for it. Registration at the counter, sealed with a biometric check, is what makes the line legally yours — and legally your responsibility.
eSIM
A SIM that arrives as a downloadable profile rather than a plastic card. For registration and for the count against your CNIC, it is treated no differently from a physical SIM. From 17 August 2026, PTA caps eSIM issuance or conversion charges at Rs 1,500, and profile transfers between devices are free up to 10 times (PTA, 7 August 2026).
Voice SIM vs data SIM
A voice SIM carries calls, texts and internet; a data SIM is internet-only. The split matters because the national cap counts them separately: 5 voice and 3 data on one CNIC.
IMSI
The International Mobile Subscriber Identity — a unique number stored on the SIM chip that the network uses to recognise it. You rarely meet it, with one exception: the 667 reply includes the IMSI of the SIM that sent the text.
MSISDN
The industry’s word for a full mobile phone number. Operator systems keep the number (MSISDN) and the chip identity (IMSI) as separate fields, and the 667 reply shows both for your own SIM.
IMEI
The serial number of the phone itself, shown on screen when you dial *#06#. It identifies the device — no SIM and no person is attached to it. IMEI questions go to DIRBS, PTA’s device system, and have nothing to do with SIM registration.
Prefix
The opening digits of a mobile number, like 030x or 034x. Years ago a prefix told you the operator; porting ended that. The dependable way to learn a number’s current network is the 76367 message.
BVS (biometric verification)
The Biometric Verification System. Before a SIM is sold, moved to another name or disowned, your fingerprint is scanned at the counter and matched against NADRA’s record — PTA makes the thumb match a condition of all three. Without it, none of those actions is valid.
Franchise
An operator’s full service centre — the place where registration work actually happens: new SIMs, duplicates, ownership changes and disowning. A street stall can sell airtime, but record changes need a franchise counter, your original CNIC and your fingerprints.
NADRA
The National Database and Registration Authority. It issues CNICs, and its records are what every SIM-sale fingerprint is matched against; its helpline is 1777. NADRA offers the public no way to search a phone number, and SIM counts come from PTA’s systems, not from NADRA.
Pak-ID
NADRA’s channel for managing your own identity documents: the Pak-ID app and id.nadra.gov.pk. There you apply for, renew or track your own CNIC. It deals in identity papers only — SIMs never appear in it.
Verisys
A NADRA verification service licensed to organisations such as banks, telecom operators and government departments. It confirms a CNIC, NICOP or POC number only with the citizen’s OTP consent. It is closed to the general public, and it says nothing about SIMs.
DIRBS
PTA’s separate system for phones, keyed to the IMEI rather than to any SIM. Dial *#06# to read your IMEI, text it to 8484, or visit dirbs.pta.gov.pk to check a device’s status. It answers device questions only, never SIM ones.
Rules and limits
Each rule below has a date and an authority behind it. Knowing them keeps you from being fooled by pages quoting numbers no official source carries.
8-SIM limit
One CNIC may carry at most 8 SIMs across all operators combined — 5 voice and 3 data. The Supreme Court of Pakistan fixed this on 5 November 2015, and nothing official has changed it since. A six-SIM figure floats around older pages; no official source backs it. See the limit band for the details.
7-day wait
Since 24 January 2024, your first new SIM activates right after biometric verification, but every further new SIM on the same CNIC must wait 7 days (PTA press release, 22 January 2024). Duplicate SIMs, ownership changes and number porting are exempt from the wait.
365-day rule
Under PTA’s Public Advisory of 24 May 2026, the disowning window rose from 60 days to 365: a newly activated SIM can be disowned only after a full year. The same advisory urges extreme caution before giving your biometrics for any SIM — the year-long wait is the reason why.
Disowning
Formally removing a SIM from your CNIC, done at a franchise with biometric verification. Once done, that line stops counting against your 8-SIM cap. If the SIM has been held for under six months, the operator may charge up to Rs 200 (PTA rule effective 1 January 2024).
Change of ownership
Moving a SIM from one person’s CNIC to another’s. Under PTA’s FAQ, the current owner and the new owner must appear together, each carrying their original CNIC, and both pass biometric verification. No remote or one-sided version of this exists.
Duplicate SIM
A fresh card issued for a number already registered to you, after the original is lost or damaged. Nothing about the number or its registration changes; you pick the new card up at a franchise in person, and the 7-day wait does not apply.
Midnight-to-6 AM sales ban
On 19 May 2026, PTA directed every mobile operator to suspend SIM sales nationwide between 12:00 AM and 6:00 AM. Buy only from authorised outlets during permitted hours, and complete biometric verification before the SIM is activated.
Law and enforcement
This group covers the regulator, the law that draws the line, and the offices that act when the line is crossed.
PTA
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority — the regulator of Pakistan’s telecom sector. It grants the operators their licences, writes the SIM rules, and runs the self-check services this glossary describes. simchecker.pk has no connection to PTA; we only explain what it publishes.
PECA 2016
The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016, Pakistan’s central law on electronic and telecom crime. For anyone thinking about SIM records, one provision matters above the rest: Section 16, defined next.
Section 16
The identity provision of PECA 2016. Obtaining, selling, possessing, transmitting or using another person’s identity information without authorisation carries up to three years in prison, a fine of up to Rs 5,000,000, or both — and it reaches the buyer as well as the seller. Reading your own record sits entirely outside it. The legal band goes deeper.
NCCIA
The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency. Cybercrime cases in Pakistan now sit with this federal agency, which inherited the role from the FIA. Report identity misuse through complaint.nccia.gov.pk, the 1799 helpline, or [email protected].
1799
The NCCIA cybercrime helpline. Call it when someone misuses your identity, when your count shows a SIM you never bought and the operator will not resolve it, or when a page offers to sell records about other people.
PTA Complaint Portal
PTA’s complaint system at complaint.pta.gov.pk, also available as the PTA CMS app. It is the escalation route when an operator fails you — for instance, a SIM on your count that a franchise refuses to remove.
Server logs
The record a website’s server keeps of visits and of anything typed into its forms. Pages that ask for CNICs or phone numbers keep what you enter, and that is a real privacy cost. This site removes the risk entirely: there is nothing to type anywhere on it, and the only interactive element is the email link on the contact page.
Search-term brands to avoid
The three entries below are phrases people type when they hope for a shortcut. Each one names a service that does not exist in Pakistan. We define them so you can recognise the promise — and walk past it.
“pak sim data”
A phrase people search, not a service that exists. No operator hands any outside website a feed of its registration records, so pages built around this phrase can only offer guesses or stale copied lists. Trading in such records is exactly what Section 16 of PECA 2016 punishes — buyer included.
“sim database”
A phrase that imagines a public, searchable store of Pakistan’s SIM registrations. No such thing exists. The genuine records live in each operator’s own closed registration system — used at the counter, under PTA supervision, never through a public window.
“live tracker”
A phrase promising a number’s position or holder in real time. No public service in Pakistan does this — not PTA, not NADRA, not any operator. The maps and moving dials on such pages are drawn by the page itself; nothing real feeds them.
Learn these 43 words once, and no page promising a stranger’s record will ever confuse you again.