KATHMANDU: Nepal Telecom has revived more than 1.5 million inactive SIM cards.

The state-owned telecommunication has ‘recycled’ the old SIM cards after the completion of SIM cards it could distribute under the numbering scheme, Gorkhapatra Daily reported on Thursday.

“SIM cards that have not been used for a long time have been recycled for reuse,” said Dilli Adhikari, managing director at the Nepal Telecom informed.

However, such SIM cards will have an old number.

Nepal Telecom has received operator codes 984 and 986 from Nepal Telecommunication Authority. The numbers begin from these codes. In addition, the telecom is using 985 for postpaid SIM card users.

The telecom has created 20 million SIM card numbers that begin with 984 and 986. After exceeding 20 million prepaid numbers last December, the telecom has been recycling and providing SIM cards in the market.