With an increase in the misuse of cell phones by anti-social elements, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued stricter norms for verification process of subscribers. At the customer end, one needs to provide the operator a proper set of documents followed by cooperation in personal verification. To make the process more stringent, there is a provision by DoT of a fine of Rs.1,000 per subscription on operators who do not follow the verification norms totally. But hey, all this is old news... So what’s the new brouhaha all about?
Studies have shown that operators, ostensibly proving their verification sincerity, have pulled the plug off over 5 million users in the past few months. If that seems quite encouraging, we should advise you to hold your horses. Before rejoicing, one needs to also know that out of 82 million pre-paid mobile users, the operators have till now verified around 50 million subscribers only. That leaves almost 30 odd million of not verified cell phone users. That leaves the cell phone operators with extremely sticky questions to answer. Firstly, why in heavens were cell phone connections accepted without appropriate verification? Secondly, why is it that once the cat is out of the bag, almost all operators are delaying the verification process?