New Cell Phone Connection May Be Required Two Guarantors

[Honest 836]

New cell phone connection may be required two guarantors

10 Aug, 2008, 1500 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: In its efforts to check the use of mobile phones in terror activities, the Ministry of Home Affairs is likely to advice the Department of Telecommunication to direct all mobile phone operators to get two existing cellular customers as guarantors before issuing SIM card to new customers.

The MHA, which is all set to approach the DoT very soon, is likely to suggest that the mobile phone operators must have the guarantors on the lines of opening a bank account.

"We wanted to have a mechanism where a common person can get a SIM card without any hassles and other security concerns are also met," Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said.

The issue was discussed in great detail at Friday's meeting of top civil and police officials of the state convened by the Home Ministry in the wake of back-to-back serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

Mobile phones are being used by terrorists to trigger IEDs at Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad in May 2007 as well as passing messages to their handlers in Pakistan and Bangladesh, sources said.

Gupta said his Ministry intended to have a "focussed discussion" with the Department of Telecommunication on the issue of SIM cards.

"Various problems (on SIM cards) have been identified. We want to deal with them," he said.

The Ministry is likely to suggest the DoT to come out with a guidelines that makes it mandatory for SIM card vendors to take instant photograph of new customers, sources said.

[Gauravsinghal 11]

I think it is a Good move from the government .

[raccoon 53]

Good move? Well, life is getting more complicated for us!! Just suppose - someone goes to another circle for a short while, and wants to buy a local SIM... getting 2 guarantors will be difficult!!

[manishag 17]

Good move? Well, life is getting more complicated for us!! Just suppose - someone goes to another circle for a short while, and wants to buy a local SIM... getting 2 guarantors will be difficult!!

in that case probably operators will come up with some idea to provide the local sim under the scheme relocation.

Otherwise there sales will hamper a lot. right now they purchase fake Ids and Documents in Bulk and show fake activations. Vodafone/Tata/Airtel will die if this will ever Happen. also many big retailers like Go Mobile, Phir Bol will also Die.

I wish it should implement as soon as possible

[Honest 836]

DoT amends licence of telcos to curb misuse by terror groups

17 Aug, 2008, 1913 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI : Tightening the policies on telecom operators, the Government has informed the service providers that DoT is the final authority to direct operators (private as well as PSUs) to cancel or penalise any agent or franchisee if their conduct found detrimental to the security of the nation.

The move comes on the heels of investigations in a terror incident leading to a case in which a person had acquired nearly 50 SIMs without any proper verification, which was followed by misuse of WiFi Internet wireless technology in Ahmedbad blasts.

The step is also seen as a bid to further tighten the grip on terror networks which were using mobile phones for triggering the blasts.

DoT has amended all licences, be it Unified Access Service, Cellular Mobile, Basic or any other type issued on or prior to 2001 saying "the licensor (DoT) shall have the right to direct the licensee (telecom company) to warn, penalise or terminate the franchisee or agent or distributor or servant after considering any report of conduct or antecedents detrimental to the security of the nation," sources said.

DoT has sent a communication to the telecom firms recently incorporating the amendment in their respective licences and said "the decision of the licensor (DoT) in this regard shall be final and binding."

The DoT has also said that the telecom firms shall bear all liabilities in the matter and keep the licensor (DoT) indentified for all claims, cost, charges or damages in this respect.

The mobile companies would generally lease out the operations to its franchise where the Government had no control.

[nkmenon55 1]

dear honest,

to get the sim the dot requires two mobile gurarantors. in my opinjon the mobile service providers insisit the subcriber to produce a police report for the concerned area along with the application. this is a best way to issue the simcard to the subcribers, and also watch their activities deputing a special vigilance cell appointed by the service provider.

regards,

nkmenon55 from calicut.

[nkmenon55 1]

Good move? Well, life is getting more complicated for us!! Just suppose - someone goes to another circle for a short while, and wants to buy a local SIM... getting 2 guarantors will be difficult!!

dear friend,

at present the roaming charges are low . so there isn't any need of getting a new SIM if you are moving to a new place for a few days.

regards,

nkmenon from calicut

[raccoon 53]

dear honest,

to get the sim the dot requires two mobile gurarantors. in my opinjon the mobile service providers insisit the subcriber to produce a police report for the concerned area along with the application. this is a best way to issue the simcard to the subcribers, and also watch their activities deputing a special vigilance cell appointed by the service provider.

regards,

nkmenon55 from calicut.

Its amazing how people hate their own freedom...!

And how exactly should they watch our activities??? Like hear our conversations and read our SMSes? Perfect. Why not just convert India to a Police state? Who knows, we can probably do a better job than even the earstwhile Soviet Union...

[Honest 836]

dear honest,

to get the sim the dot requires two mobile gurarantors. in my opinjon the mobile service providers insisit the subcriber to produce a police report for the concerned area along with the application. this is a best way to issue the simcard to the subcribers, and also watch their activities deputing a special vigilance cell appointed by the service provider.

^^^

Dear Mr. Narayanam, actually the above is not possible at all. Our Police department is already overloaded, and if still it is applied then nearly every common man will have to grease these babus before getting the approved police report. Just imagine yourself going to Police Station again and again for verification purposes. The life would become hell for the common person if the above is implied.

Regards.

[manishag 17]

Best Thing that I can think of is to Take the Fresh Photograph through the camera phone and get them uploaded to Operators server along with the two guarantors. it requires very less infrastructure and it's easy to deploy. i remember software to directly upload the pics on server was developed by one of the NGO dristi. so that can be used. and one can get two guarantor in any city also they must provide the retailer to put the stamp of verified against original(few years back such initiative was taken by few operators in up-east). and if something goes wrong with the docs then retailer will be responsible. And someone relocates to other circle and wants to continue with the same operator then Operator has to provide the connection on basis of existing connection. or else one can get the connection and employer(most of the time relocation takes place because of job change) can provide 2 guarantors.

[Honest 836]

Telcos may have to pay up to Rs 5000 for each unverified user

28 Aug, 2008, 0046 hrs IST, ET

NEW DELHI: All major telcos will soon be subject to penalties which may run into hundreds of crores. While the department of telecom (DoT) has issued over 180 showcause notices to service providers over the past couple of years, it had not specified financial penalties.

ET has learnt that the DoT’s internal committee, which was set up to determine penalties, plans to impose fines ranging between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000 per subscriber for unverified customers that telcos have. Indian regulations mandate that telcos carry out 100% verification of their subscribers. So far, DoT has issued about 133 showcause notices to telcos after investigating instances of subscriber verification failures.

On the issue of providing mobile services in border areas, the committee has proposed that telcos be fined Rs 1 lakh per week for every tower that had been set up in restricted areas. DoT has issued 22 showcause notices to operators for setting up towers within the 10 km buffer zone from the international border. This committee also wants a ‘token penalty’ of Rs 1 lakh per week for those operators who have launched value-added services (VAS) without DoT approval.

On this front, DoT has issued about 28 showcause notices to telcos for launching VAS, without the requisite approvals. It must be pointed out that DoT can impose these fines only after its proposals have been endorsed by the Telecom Commission. The Telecom Commission is the apex decision-making body of the DoT.

Last year, the communications ministry had asked all telcos to re-verify all their customers and also directed them to disconnect those users who could not be verified. DoT then conducted special drives to verify the telcos’ claims to having complied with the government directive, following which it issued 27 showcause notices to Reliance Communications, 22 to Bharti Airtel, 21 to BSNL, 20 to Tata Teleservices, 16 to Vodafone, 11 to Idea Cellular and 10 to Aircel, among others.

Sources close to the development say that telcos will be asked to pay Rs 1,000 per subscriber for each of the non-verified customers in those zones where DoT had conducted the drive. However, after April 2009, DoT wants three different slabs of penalties — the Rs 1,000 per unverified user will be applicable only for those telcos whose verification rate is over 95%. DoT wants this amount raised to Rs 5,000 for those telcos with 90% verification ratio and Rs 10,000 per customer for those operators below the 90% cut-off.

On the VAS front, Bharti tops the list with 20 showcause notices to its name, followed by Vodafone Essar with seven. Till 2006, DoT had put Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar (then Hutchison Essar) in the dock for violating the national numbering plan and also for offering ‘subscriber local dialing services without government approval.’ It had also hauled up Vodafone Essar and Tata Teleservices for providing Push-To-Talk services prior to the government’s clearance for such offerings in India.

[Honest 836]

Mobile user verification compliance rises to over 85%: Govt

Business Standard

Government today said subscriber verification compliance has increased to 85 per cent from the earlier 60 per cent, amid rising security concerns.

"Mobile subscriber verification audit conducted by the Vigilance Monitoring Cells in the field has resulted in enhanced compliance to subscriber verification by the Service Providers, from 60 per cent to more than 85 per cent", Department of Telecom said in a note.

DoT had cracked the whip on mobile companies ever since security agencies raised concern over fake addresses and bulk connections in a single person's name.

Security agencies had raised an alarm earlier over the rise in number of cases of fake addresses and unidentified SIM card buyers, which helped the terrorists to escape after carrying their modus operandi over mobile phones.

Although it is mandatory to carry out subscriber verification, operators fearing loss of customers did not stress on this aspect and as a result security agencies for whom mobile call details are crucial to nab culprits were not able to track the offenders.

As a result DoT tightened the subscriber verification norms, as per which telecom operators will have to pay a penalty and immediately de-activate the pre-paid mobile connection if they fail to follow the new norms issued by the government to strengthen the subscriber verification system.

[Honest 836]

ID verification: Erring telecom operators fined

Business Line l 1 Dec l New Delhi

DoT seeks monthly checks to address security concerns.

The Department of Telecom has finally started imposing penalty on telecom operators violating subscriber verification norms.

The move follows random checks done by DoT’s vigilance officers, which revealed many subscribers did not have proper identification papers. Almost all the operators have been fined for providing connection to unverified users.

While the Government had notified the verification norms more than a year ago, this is the first time that it has imposed the penalty. The operators have been seeking more time to complete the verification of all the 300 million subscribers. However, with the security agencies expressing concern over the availability of SIM cards to unverified subscribers, DoT has swung into action.

Rs 1,000/subscriber

Though the penalty amount is not very high, this exercise will be done on a monthly basis. Operators are required to pay Rs 1,000 for each subscriber found without proper identification documents.

Security agencies have pointed out that the fine amount was too low to act as deterrent to the operators against giving out connections to anyone without proper documents.

DoT has also asked operators to shut down dealers who were not verifying the subscriber before giving out a connection. However, industry observers pointed out that since operators are under pressure to sustain the growth in subscriber numbers, the verification system may not be completely fool-proof.

Not fool-proof

Operators are adding more than 10 million new subscribers each month in a bid to compensate for lower average revenue a user and declining minutes of usage. The drive to keep up the target numbers may be forcing some of the dealers to give out SIM cards to users without documents.

The telecom industry claims that every measure is being taken to adhere to the verification norms. They have also set up an industry body that monitors the issue on a regular basis.

May hit growth

At the same time, operators have cautioned that strict verification laws could impact the mobile growth rate since more than 80 per cent of user base are on prepaid platform. Prepaid subscribers are known to change their operator frequently and some even take a connection for a short period of time.

[Honest 836]

‘Tough to verify identity of all mobile subscribers’

Business Line l 2 Dec l New Delhi

Operators want Govt to provide unique ID number for all citizens.

Mobile companies are finding it difficult to verify the identity of all their subscribers in the absence of a fool-proof identification document from the Government.

Cellular companies, penalised for having subscribers without proper documentation, said that some consumers were using fake ration cards, PAN cards and producing illegal copies of other Government-issued documents to get a connection.

“We have been telling the Government to provide a unique identity number for all Indian citizens on the lines of the US social security number. This will solve a lot of problems for us in verifying the true identity of all subscribers. But now the Government is asking us to do the police work and are holding us responsible for fake documents,” said a Delhi-based mobile operator.

Educating the dealers

While cellular companies saythey are doing all that they can to get the subscribers verified given the security concerns, they admit the existing system is not entirely fool proof. “About 5-10 per cent of the user base may remain without proper documentation despite all our efforts. We have formed an apex industry body to monitor the progress of subscriber verification process. We are also educating our dealers on the issue so that they can refuse connection to anyone without documents,” said an industry official.

Operators say that some times the dealers in smaller cities issue a connection to consumers even without taking identity papers. There have been instances where dealers have been caught using the same identification papers for several subscribers.

Mobile companies said that the DoT was penalising even in cases where it was a clerical mistake by the dealers or subscribers while filling out their addresses and contact details.

Earlier the operators had partnered with the postal department to conduct the verification. “This did not work out since the postal department took time to investigate the subscriber’s details and submit its report to the operator. The postal department was also charging a heavy fee for this service ,” said a mobile operator.

However, DoT officials said the Government had relaxed a number of rules to make it easy for the mobile companies to carry out the verification. “Operators are making excuses because they want as many subscribers to take the connection. If one operator is adding a million, the other wants to get 2 million new subscribers every month. But the operators have to make sure they address the security concerns even as they chase their targets,” said a DoT official.

[manishag 17]

‘Tough to verify identity of all mobile subscribers’

Business Line l 2 Dec l New Delhi

Operators want Govt to provide unique ID number for all citizens.

Mobile companies are finding it difficult to verify the identity of all their subscribers in the absence of a fool-proof identification document from the Government.

Cellular companies, penalised for having subscribers without proper documentation, said that some consumers were using fake ration cards, PAN cards and producing illegal copies of other Government-issued documents to get a connection.

“We have been telling the Government to provide a unique identity number for all Indian citizens on the lines of the US social security number. This will solve a lot of problems for us in verifying the true identity of all subscribers. But now the Government is asking us to do the police work and are holding us responsible for fake documents,” said a Delhi-based mobile operator.

Educating the dealers

While cellular companies saythey are doing all that they can to get the subscribers verified given the security concerns, they admit the existing system is not entirely fool proof. “About 5-10 per cent of the user base may remain without proper documentation despite all our efforts. We have formed an apex industry body to monitor the progress of subscriber verification process. We are also educating our dealers on the issue so that they can refuse connection to anyone without documents,” said an industry official.

Operators say that some times the dealers in smaller cities issue a connection to consumers even without taking identity papers. There have been instances where dealers have been caught using the same identification papers for several subscribers.

Mobile companies said that the DoT was penalising even in cases where it was a clerical mistake by the dealers or subscribers while filling out their addresses and contact details.

Earlier the operators had partnered with the postal department to conduct the verification. “This did not work out since the postal department took time to investigate the subscriber’s details and submit its report to the operator. The postal department was also charging a heavy fee for this service ,” said a mobile operator.

However, DoT officials said the Government had relaxed a number of rules to make it easy for the mobile companies to carry out the verification. “Operators are making excuses because they want as many subscribers to take the connection. If one operator is adding a million, the other wants to get 2 million new subscribers every month. But the operators have to make sure they address the security concerns even as they chase their targets,” said a DoT official.

these are the Lame excuses. i worked with all the telecome operators for organized retails. it's possible to follow the strict verification norms for the prepaid nos. we did experiment with Idea and trust me even after strict verification our Idea:Airtel:Vodafone sales in Organized retails(Delhi) were 80:15:5 approximately. per month sales hit by a single sales boy was 500 idea nos in a month.

[Honest 836]

Govt to DoT: Ensure strict verification for SIMs

Economic Times l 24 Dec l New Delhi

In the backdrop of mobile phones having Indian SIM cards and UAE's Thuraya satellite phone used by Pakistani terrorists during Mumbai attack last week, the home ministry on Wednesday asked the department of telecommunication (DoT) to quickly devise a mechanism of a "strict consumer verification" exercise and formulate a comprehensive policy on "monitoring and intercepting" sat phones.

The ministry's concerns were conveyed to DoT after the issue came up for discussion in a high-level meeting chaired by home minister P Chidambaram who reviewed all aspects of telecom having security implications.

The issue of use of Chinese mobile phone handsets — which do not have International Mobile Equipment Identities (IMEI) — also came up for discussion. Since it is the IMEI number which mainly helps agencies to trace the handset user, the intelligence agencies had recently pitched for a ban on Chinese handsets.

The minister was, however, informed that DoT, taking such concerns in mind, has already "directed all the access service providers to make provision of Equipment Identity Registry (EIR) so that calls without IMEI or Electronic Serial Number (ESN) or those with IMEI or ESN with all zeros are not processed, and rejected".

Besides senior home ministry and DoT officials, the meeting was also attended by senior officers of IB, RAW and the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO). The NTRO keeps track of technological aspects of intelligence in coordination with other agencies.

Sources in the ministry said that DoT had proposed to set up a National Surveillance Grid to create a centralized communication monitoring agency. The Grid would help remove multiplicity of authorities in telecom/internet/Voice Over Internet Protocal monitoring exercises as currently it is being done by different agencies, they added.

At present, interception of sat phones is a big problem in India as none of the international operators have a hub here. Since these phones — provided by operators like UAE's Thuraya and a consortium led by Inmarsat — do not need interconnectivity with the network of any country's domestic network, they can be used anywhere in the world without any hitch.

An official said that sat phones could be intercepted only with the help of the country where it is licensed — which is time-consuming and often ineffective. The problems of interception and the absence of hubs come because India does not provide licences for operating satellite phones on a commercial basis, he added.

After having discussed such issues, the ministry asked DoT to come out with a solution within a month so that the government could formulate a comprehensive policy on sat phone monitoring and interception.

As far as safety mechanism of SIM cards is concerned, the ministry suggested that DoT consider a system of "gurantor" for getting a new connection.

It was earlier proposed that the consumers can carry reference numbers of two existing mobile phone customers as "guarantors" for getting new SIM cards — the way it is currently being done while opening a bank account.

The reference numbers of guarantors — which will be verified by the service provider within a day or two -- will be in addition to the other identity and residential address proofs.

The home ministry also suggested that DoT come out with a guideline which makes it mandatory for SIM card vendors to take instant photographs of new customers using web cameras and to pass them on to the service provider with the reference number.