No More Than 9 Connections: Telecom Department To Deactivate Extra SIMs Of Subscribers

NEW DELHI: To keep a check on financial crimes, pesky calls, automated calls, and fraudulent activities, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued an order requiring users with more than nine connections across India, and six connections in Jammu and Kashmir, North East, and Assam, to re-verify their SIM cards and disconnect in the event of non-verification.

According to the order released on December 7, subscribers will be given the option of selecting the connection they want to keep and deactivating the remaining connections.

“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 flagged for re-verification,” the DoT order stated.

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Officials believe that this will help in tracking and reducing the number of financial crimes, bogus calls and other fraudulent activities done using multiple mobile connections.

The DoT has directed telecom carriers to erase all flagged mobile connections from the database that are no longer in use in accordance with the rule.

If a subscriber shows 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” will be suspended within 30 days and the incoming service will be suspended within 45 days.

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If no subscriber appears for re-verification, the flagged number will be cancelled within 60 days, beginning December 7.

“An additional 30 days will be allowed in the instance of a subscriber who is on international roaming, has a physical impairment, or is hospitalised,” the order stated.

However, if the number has been flagged by any law enforcement agency or financial institution, or if it has been identified as a bothersome caller, the outgoing services will be suspended within 5 days, the incoming services will be suspended within 10 days, and the service will be completely disconnected within 15 days if no one shows up for verification.

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“The stated timelines must be communicated on a regular basis by TSPs to customers of flagged mobile connections by SMS/IVRS/e-mail/app or any other available manner. Subscribers will also be informed on a regular basis as to the cause for the suspension of services” DoT order said.

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