The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said that strict action will be taken against operators who fail to complete the process of re-verification of all its customers before March 31, 2011. The DoT has also clarified that it will impose penalties and has warned all operators that no concessions would be given if they violate the terms and conditions of licence agreement pertaining to verifying their subscribers.
Subscriber re-verification is an ongoing exercise to plug all possible gaps in ensuring the country’s security. The DoT has been issuing notifications from time to time to operators to get 100 per cent verification. The DoT had asked operators to complete the re-verification process within a year starting November 1, 2009. Operators were not able to create the required infrastructure due to strict regulatory instructions and thus the DoT extended the deadline to December 2010.
However, operators demanded more time to complete re-verification of more than 729 million mobile subscribers with 15-20 million subscribers getting added every month. Operators add that a large majority of the subscribers have filled out verification forms and on-ground checks have been done. However, the more tedious process requires the information to be put online, which the authorities can access.
Thereafter, the Advisory Council for Telecom in India (ACT), body representing GSM and CDMA operators had written to the DoT late last year requesting for a further extension of the deadline. This resulted in the DoT further extending the deadline from December 31, 2010 to March 31, 2011.
