Centre Govt Lifts Ban On Pre-Paid Mobile Services In J&k

[Mukeshlst 5]

The Government of India today brings the good news for the peoples of Jammu and Kashmir by lifting the Ban on Pre-paid mobile Services in the state; nearly by two and a half months after imposing a ban on Prepaid in last year (November-2009).The Central Government announced that It has lifted the Ban on the Prepaidmobile services in J&K with immediate effect but put stringent conditions on operators for verification of customers. As earlier we shared on TelecomTalk, The Union Home Ministry had imposed the Ban on Pre-paid Mobile Services on November 2009 and Home Minister P Chidambaram had recently said that if the service providers come up with a foolproof plan of 100 per cent verification and the ministry was satisfied with it, then the issue may be revisited.

[ACS 130]

^^^ Just saw it on news..

Just imagine, so many ppl (sans address proofs) deprived of Mobile services earlier !

[::Hitesh:: 1,763]

This can be a good new and bad new both !!!

Verification should be done for prepaid and postpaid both.

This ban was due to telco not doing verification,

We should blame telco for not doing verification..

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

I still have doubts whether these telcos will verify address proof throughly or not , may be the initial spirit will be for a month or two... After then, I doubt thorough verification may NOT be possible with any telco, imho...

Edited January 24, 2010 by kanagadeepan

[manishag 17]

I still have doubts whether these telcos will verify address proof throughly or not , may be the initial spirit will be for a month or two... After then, I doubt thorough verification may NOT be possible with any telco, imho...

In prepaid telcos makes most of the money and they do maximum fraud in terms of nos. I would say it's wrong decision of govt.

in Jammu they rent prepaid SIM cards. and do you think rented prepaid sims will have any verification ???

[raccoon 53]

 But if a verified SIM is rented, then if it used for any illegal activity, wont the verified renter be in trouble?

[::Hitesh:: 1,763]

^^^

Even at the first place duplicate verification can be done,

Also terrorist can get a job in telcos as a verifying agent, its very easy to get that job.

So nothing is full proof.

[aviator 3]

JAMMU, Jan 21: Nearly two and a half months after imposing a ban on pre-paid mobile phones in this border State, Centre today lifted its order with immediate effect but put stringent conditions on telecom service providers for verification of customers for pre-paid as well as post-paid connections.

The decision to lift the ban was taken after the Centre finalised a "foolproof" plan to ensure proper verification of cell phone subscribers in the State, said an order issued by Shashi Mohan, Director (AS-IV Cell) of Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India.

The issuance of pre-paid mobile services would be restored in accordance with the revised guidelines and upon completion of re-verification, existing pre-paid subscribers would be allowed the facility of recharge, the order said, adding same guidelines would also be applicable for new pre-paid and post-paid connections.

The Union Home Ministry had imposed the ban on pre-paid mobile phone services on November 1 last year after intelligence inputs indicated that mobile telephones, especially pre-paid telephones, were being used extensively by the militant organisations in Jammu and Kashmir besides those functioning from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

It had also been noticed that implementation of procedure for obtaining mobile telephone connections, especially pre-paid mobile telephone connections, was extremely lax and such laxity was leading to misuse of mobile telephone services by the militants.

Following the ban, several rounds of discussions were held among the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Telecommunications, Government of Jammu and Kashmir and mobile telephone service providers and based on these discussions, the stringent procedures were laid down for re-verification of the existing subscribers and verification of new subscribers (both pre-paid and post-paid), the order said, adding all the mobile service providers in Jammu and Kashmir have been directed to adhere scrupulously to the new guidelines with immediate effect.

The revised guidelines will see a stricter scrutiny of documents besides limiting a family’s ability to have multiple phones to just six.

As per the new guidelines, every existing pre-paid subscriber or connection will have to be re-verified which will be done by the service provider’s own outlet or by franchisee only. The number and addresses of such outlets and franchisees will be notified within one week to Law Enforcement Agencies, State Police and Telecom Enforcement Regulation and Maintenance (TERM) Cell of the Department of Telecommunication in J&K.

In case of students, employees of State/ Central Governments and employees of PSUs, a fresh certificate certifying the identity and address of the person concerned issued by the Head of the office/ institution would be accepted as proof of identity and address.

Similarly, in case of serving officers/ jawans of the armed forces and para-military forces and members of their families, a fresh certificate certifying identity and address issued by the Commanding Officer (CO) would be accepted as proof of identity and address.

While mentioning the documents to be accepted by the service providers for proof of identity and proof of address, the Department of Telecommunication has stated that only voter’s identity cards (issued from 2008), which carry various security features such as holograms etc would be acceptable.

The service providers will have to send a list of the re-verified prepaid mobile telephone subscribers to the nodal officers of law enforcement agencies, State Police and the TERM Cell on daily basis. This would include the name of the subscriber, telephone number, address as well as details of proof of identity and address alongwith the new Customer Acquisition Form (CAF).

In case of a negative report from the authorities about the identity or address of the pre-paid mobile telephone subcriber, the service providers will have to disconnect the telephone connection within two hours of recepit of report, the guidelines said, adding a copy of the CAF with original photograph of the subscriber on each copy shall be sent to the law enforcement agencies, State Police and the TERM Cell every fortnight. The fourth copy of the photograph will be retained by the service provider on its copy of the CAF.

In case, a bill sent to a post-paid mobile telephone subscriber is returned or if the bill remains unpaid for a period of 90 days, the service provider will have to forthwith inform the law enforcement agencies, State Police and the TERM Cell, J&K. The authorities concerned will then immediately verify the case and advice the service provider accordingly.

Notwithstanding these guidelines, the service providers will have to de-activate within two hours any connection which the competent authorities of the Central or State Governments recommend on grounds of security.

As per the guidelines, the service provider shall exercise the utmost caution and discretion in providing a second connection or multiple connections.

The service provider will have to take into account all relevant factors including the reasons given for seeking a second connection or multiple connections and the income of the person or family concerned.

The degree of verification of an application for a second connection will be stricter and for a third connection even stricter and so on. In any case, no person residing in the State of Jammu and Kashmir shall be entitled to or provided with mobile telephone connections (either prepaid or postpaid) exceeding six in number, the guidelines said.

The maximum of six mobile telephone connections shall apply to the mobile connections held by an individual in his or her name as well as the connections held by the members of his or her family, the guidelines further said.

In the case of an application for a second connection or multiple connections, the verification by the service provider shall include a reference to the State or Central Governments or any of the authorities of such Government including the police and the Income Tax authorities.

The second connection or multiple connections given by a service provider will have to be reported separately at the end of every month to the law enforcing agency, State Police and the TERM Cell, the guidelines further said, adding if a subscriber provides false information and obtains a mobile telephone connection, the mobile telephone connection shall be liable to be cancelled without prejudice to any other action that may be taken under law.

[cooladitya007 41]

Guys i need urgent help i am visiting jammu-kashmir next week and i have only prepaid connection so i wanted to know will it work or not?

[hiteshkkk1 327]

It won't work... I had visited last month itself.. Only post paid will work... U can manage to get local pre paid Sim card from Jammu from taxi drivers.. But its better to carry your own post paid

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

[cooladitya007 41]

Thanks a lot for info.