The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked telecom operators to re-verify SIM cards of subscribers with more than nine connections across India, and six connections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeast, and Assam, and to disconnect them if they are unverified.
According to the order issued on December 7, subscribers will be given the option of choosing which connection they want to keep and deactivating the rest.
“If it is discovered during the DoT’s data analytics that an individual subscriber has more than nine mobile connections (six in the case of J&K, NE, and Assam LSAs) across all TSPs (telecom service providers), all mobile connections will be reported for re-verification,” according to the DoT orders.
The Department of Transportation issued the order to investigate financial crimes, annoying calls, automated calls, and fraudulent activities.
The Department of Transportation has requested that all flagged mobile connections that are no longer in use be removed from the database.
If the subscriber has shown up for verification and exercises his option to surrender, transfer, or disconnect mobile connections, the outgoing (including data services) facilities of the “flagged mobile connection shall be suspended within 30 days” and “the incoming service shall be suspended within 45 days”.
If no subscriber shows up for re-verification, the number will be deactivated within 60 days, starting from December 7.
“An additional 30 days will be provided in the case of a subscriber who is on international roaming, has a physical disability, or is hospitalised,” the order stated.
If the number has been flagged by any law enforcement agency or financial institution as a nuisance caller, the outgoing services will be suspended within 5 days, the incoming services within 10 days, and the entire service will be disconnected within 15 days if no one shows up for verification.
“The schedules shall be communicated to subscribers of flagged mobile connections on a regular basis by TSPs via SMS, IVRS, e-mail, app, or any other available method.” The subscribers will also be informed on a regular basis about the reason for the service suspension,” according to the order.