A total of 17,000 out of 21,800 SIM cards were found in excess of the permissible limit of nine mobile connections for one subscriber, after which they were deactivated in Bihar and Jharkhand, as of April and May 2023. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) took this step after an analysis using artificial intelligence (AI) based facial recognition technology. The artificial intelligence and facial recognition powered solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification (ASTR) analysis by the DoT in April and May revealed that 21,800 mobile connections were violating the permissible limit of nine numbers for one subscriber in Bihar and Jharkhand.
This limit is restricted to six in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and other northeastern states. The DoT also launched a digital portal ‘Sanchar Saathi’ to empower mobile subscribers, strengthen their security and increase awareness about citizen-centric initiatives of the central government. It finds out the total number of mobile connections issued against a subscriber and also traces or blocks SIMs for their lost phones. The DoT deactivated more than 0.23 million mobile numbers in Bihar and Jharkhand in April and May, as the majority of these were procured by forged documents. 2,900 point of sales (PoS) were also blacklisted by telecom service providers which were found to be involved in unethical and illegal practices while issuing SIM cards.
