(ML/NG) Anonymous prepaid cards for mobile telephones will soon be a thing of the past in Luxembourg.

Given the attacks in Paris, the sale will be prohibited for safety reasons, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel announced during a Wednesday press briefing.

Join, one of four telecom providers in Luxembourg, has decided to no longer sell anonymous prepaid cards. Both online stores, as well as Luxembourg and Belgium branches, will be affected. To obtain a prepaid card, the customer will be required to disclose their identity in the future.

Prior to this already, the Post was the first supplier to respond to the announcement. To purchase a new prepaid card, a customer will have to provide a form of ID in the future, said the public company whose shares are 100 percent owned by the Luxembourg government. Users of prepaid cards that are already in circulation would soon be notified how they can identify themselves. Until further notice, no SIM cards would be deactivated.

In Luxembourg, around 25 percent of customers (200,000) use a prepaid card. An additional 607,000 customers have a contract with one of the four providers. To date, the Post has around 100,000 customers with a prepaid card, followed by Tango (80,000) and Orange (14,000).

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