The temporary suspension of one-way services for unverified subscribers has begun to be implemented after Circular 08/2026/TT-BKHCN took effect from April 15.
However, along with many people discovering that SIMs are locked and calling out, another question is also starting to appear more and more: "When will two-way locking occur?
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Pham Duc Long (Hung Yen) said that a few days ago he suddenly discovered that his subscriber was locked and called out even though the phone still had signal and received calls normally. After contacting the switchboard, he learned that the phone number had been temporarily suspended in one direction due to not completing information verification as requested by the network operator.
According to Mr. Long, he had received the notice before, but due to continuous business trips and being busy with work, he did not have time to verify it.
I thought if it was locked in one direction, I could do it later because I could still answer the phone. But now I see many people saying that the next thing may be locked in both directions, so I'm starting to worry," Mr. Long shared.
According to Mr. Long, this phone number is being used for banking, work and many online accounts, so if it is completely interrupted, it will be quite affected.
Bidirectional locking is the next step in the handling roadmap
According to Circular 08/2026/TT-BKHCN and Decree 163/2024/ND-CP, after a subscriber is temporarily suspended from one-way service, users still have time to verify information.
However, if within 60 days from the time of being blocked one-way, the user still does not complete the required authentication, the network operator will continue to temporarily suspend the two-way service.
When two-way locked, subscribers will not be able to make or receive calls, text messages or use mobile data.
After this step, if they continue not to update information, in the next 5 days, the subscriber may have their contract terminated and their number recovered according to regulations.
This means that for subscribers who were locked in one direction in early May but have not been verified, the time to be locked in both directions may fall around early July.
According to network operators, the processing is implemented according to a roadmap and users can still restore the service normally if they complete authentication before the two-way lock.
