criminal or terrorist activities. In fact, a publicly available policy assessment report from Mexico showed that mandatory SIM registration introduced there in 2009 had failed to help the prevention, investigation and/or prosecution of associated crimes. As a result, policymakers decided to repeal the regulation three years later. A prepaid phone number specifically purchased to be used briefly and then replaced is known colloquially as a burner phone or burner. A Los Angeles technology company developed a mobile application of the same name that replicates this functionality for a smartphone. United States Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced legislation requiring consumers to produce identification before buying pre-paid phones in 2010, which was not passed. International branding In an effort to differentiate the prepaid from post-paid service for their customers, CSPs have branded prepaid services differently from the post-paid services. A variant of post-paid service has emerged in recent years that comes closer to the prepaid service, by offering a "pay monthly" contract. Prepaid phones and SIMs in the United Kingdom are known as "Pay as you go". Usage Usage of prepaid cellphone service is common in most parts of the world. Around 70% of customers in Western Europe and China use prepaid phones with the figure rising to over 90% for customers in India and Africa. 23% of cellphone users in the United States of America were using prepaid service as of 2011, a share that was expected to rise to 29% by 2016. Prepaid SIM cards are also becoming a variation of the traditional prepaid cellphone plans. Rather than needing to purchase an entirely new phone, existing phones can be used by simply replacing the SIM card within the device. Prepaid service has also evolved to include rate plans and buckets traditionally seen in postpaid plans but with a lower cost of ownership for the network operator. Such Advance Pay plans are often monthly plans with either Unlimited Voice/SMS/MMS (or monthly buckets for some of these) and Prepaid Data Volume Add-ons and throttling mechanisms. See also International mobile remittance Mobile broadband References Mobile phones Mobile telecommunication services Telecommunications economics