It has been said that the policy is aimed at eliminating spam short messages (SMS). Currently, mobile phone SIM cards, along with the carried telephone numbers, are commonly sold by street distributors at relatively low price and at the same time anonymously. With proper devices, spammers are capable to send thousands of SMS every hour. The service providers have promised to take measures, but efforts were unfortunately insignificant. Some people thus doubt that those providers are involved in the value chain of spamming and hence policy related to the providers shall not be expected to be successfully carried out.

Another usage of the identification was said to be evidence for high-tech crime prosecution. Although these may be effective, there is concern of privacy as a survey figured out that half of the respondents are concerned with this risk. Since SMS has a high frequency of usage in Asia, and people are used to send private messages and to make private conversation over mobile phone, the policy is expected to meet resistance in its application.