If you have a Spanish pay as you go mobile phone you may find yourself with no signal after November 9th this year. Here in Ibiza, and all over Spain, that is the cut off date to register your personal details with the phone company that provided your sim card.
What's happened is that the national government have passed a law in response to terrorist atrocities so that the owner of any mobile phone can be easily identified. Since 2007 all new phone sales have been made on the basis of the buyer providing name, address and identity card number.
Anyone who bought a phone before this is obliged to provide these details – the easiest way is to go to the shop where the card was purchased – to avoid losing your signal in November.
It may seem like an inconvenience to us, but just think about the poor phone companies who've already spent €50 million complying with the new law.