Supreme Court allows reselling and recycling of old SIMs

Last Updated on June 24, 2026

Summary✨

The Supreme Court of Nepal now allows the reselling SIM cards that have been unused for a long time.

Users must inform their telecom provider before holding a SIM card unused, ensuring privacy protection during reselling.

This decision addresses the growing importance of SIM cards in digital life, including banking and social media registrations.

Users can keep their SIMs out of use temporarily while retaining the right to resume usage later.

Telecom companies need to develop policies to implement these changes effectively.

The Supreme Court of Nepal has paved the way for the recycling and reselling of SIM cards that have remained unused for a long time. The decision has come into public after the full text of the judgment delivered by a joint bench of Supreme Court Justices Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma and Mahesh Sharma Poudel on 25 Poush 2083 was made public.

The decision allows telcos to reuse SIM cards numbers that have already been used by others. But it’s stated that users must provide a prior notice to the telco before keeping the SIM number unused (hold) for a long time. Also, it has been established that the privacy of the former user must be protected while reselling the SIM to a new user. Prior to this, stakeholders have been theoretically putting SIM cards older than six months out of use.

On 2079, Poush 11, advocate Sapana Bhandari had filed a writ application making Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), Communication Ministry (MoCIT), Nepal Telecom (NTC), and Ncell as the defendants. The Supreme Court had issued an interim order to stop the reselling of inactive SIM cards.

Reselling of SIM cards now allowed by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court’s verdict allows the reselling and reuse of SIM cards. However, the court has made it clear that the right to privacy should be upheld without compromise, as in Article 28 of the Constitution of Nepal, while recycling old SIM cards. This is because SIM cards/numbers are now part of digital life. It is used not just to keep contacts, but to register for banking, social media, and other services.

The Court has called on NTA, MoCIT, NTC, and Ncell to make necessary arrangements to ensure the privacy of user details while an old SIM is redistributed to a new user.

✨How to know and transfer Ntc, Ncell SIM owner name?

Hold a SIM card out of use to reuse it later

The Supreme Court has also ruled that users can keep their SIM out of use for a while before resuming its use later. This is particularly interesting because it brings convenience to users who may come into a situation of not use their existing SIM for a period.

This is particularly useful in cases when a mobile user has to go abroad for travel, their phone or SIM gets stolen, or they choose to stay out of cellular services for some reason. Though roaming service is available for many countries, many also choose not to use it due to costs and other reasons.

This means that your old SIM cards may not become neutralized for you if you don’t use them for a period. However, you must officially inform your service provider before you deactivate your SIM. This lets you keep hold of your SIM card without the telco taking it for recycling it for another user.

Now, telcos will make necessary arrangements and policies to implement this decision from the Supreme Court on reselling and recycling of SIM cards. So, it will also allow the reselling of unused popular numbers like 98510 and 9841, which is beneficial for the customers as well as for the telco. Telcos also need to pay for the number range to NTA, so this will make this efficient in terms of usage of the already paid number ranges.

✅Why people prefer 98510 number?

What’s your take on the decision from the Supreme Court on the recycling of old SIMs? Do share your opinion in the comments below.

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Dinesh

Senior Editor; An experienced tech writer covering news mostly on telecommunication, internet, latest tech & trends, and Gadgets. Being a technophile, I am particularly fascinated by the evolution of mobile networks in Nepal from legacy networks (2G, 3G) to 4G (with VoLTE, VoWiFi, eSIM) and the prospects of the upcoming 5G, and equally enthralled by the development of internet from the dial-up connection to the 2 Gbps XGS-PON fiber broadband technology and their transformative impact in the country.