After six months of suspending the service, the government Tuesday awarded permission to the state run Nepal Telecom (NT) to resume the pre-paid mobile service, reports said Wednesday.

According to reports, the re-registration for pre-paid mobile phone users will begin from Saturday.

Soon after the royal proclamation of the February 1, authorities had suspended pre-paid mobile phone service citing security reasons. There are over 173,000 pre-paid mobile phone users with around 140,000 users in the capital.

“The ministry has permitted us to start the re-registration process,” reports quoted Sugat Ratna Kansakar, managing director of the NT, as confirming. He further stated that the NT would issue a public notice on the issue, reports said.

When contacted by Nepalnews, officials were not available for comment.

Reports said the NT would open all its 11 branches in the capital from 10a.m.-5p.m. Saturday for the re-registration process, it is stated. The customers will have to fill the forms verified by a gazette government officer furnishing details of the 19-digit number inscribed at the back of the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, mobile phone number, a passport size photograph and a copy of citizenship.

During the last six months, the NT lost over a billion rupees in revenue. NT employees and customers, among others, had protested the suspension of the service and pressurized the government to resume the service.