Prepaid mobile phones

Mobile phone companies in Spain have two years to locate more than 20 million clients who use prepaid cards. The companies already have the necessary data about people with contract phones but of course users of prepaid cards remain anonymous. During this period the phone companies have to collect information for inclusion in a free registry. After the two years, mobile phone companies will be forced to deactivate any cards for which they have no information.

The Law of Conservation of Data relative to Electronic Communications, which was approved yesterday, forces the companies to keep the data about users and the calls they make (except for the contents) and make them available in criminal investigations. This law was brought in following the Madrid train bombings and the London Underground bombings where data from mobile phone calls proved vital in obtaining arrests.

The law forces the operators of fixed, mobile and Internet phones to keep the data from users i.e. the name, address and telephone number of both caller and receiver along with the time and duration of calls for a maximum period of two years. At the present time companies keep some data for two to three months for commercial reasons.

The law gives precise instructions to the companies on what to do in the case of prepaid mobiles: they will have to take a " free-registry" with details of first name, last names, nationality and DNI or passport number of customers who bought these cards.

In the case of the 20.4 million clients who already have a prepaid mobile, the companies are going to have to locate them with publicity campaigns and request the data from them. Any card that they cannot trace will have to be deactivated.