Does the telecom provider need physical access to the SIM card to clone it?

Does the telecom provider need physical access to the SIM card to clone it?

In many dictatorships SIM card cloning is used by the police (working together with the telco) to spy on dissidents, journalists etc. Some people say that you need the authentication key on the SIM card to clone it so that physical access to the card is a pre-requisite for cloning. However, if we assume that the telco works for the political police can they design the SIM card in such a way that they can work without an authentication key on them? This would make the process of SIM card cloning much easier and therefore dangerous for civil society.