Date:23/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/03/23/stories/2007032304790400.htm

Cell cos face Rs 1,500-cr penalty from DoT

Thomas K Thomas

No extension of March 31 deadline for subscriber verification

New Delhi March 22 Mobile operators in the country could be collectively asked to cough up as much as Rs 1,500 crore, with the Department of Telecom (DoT) refusing to extend the March 31 deadline for completing subscriber verification of all cellular users in the country.

With just over a week left for the deadline to expire, operators have completed only 90 per cent of the 160-million cellular user base.

The DoT had asked all operators to complete the verification by March 31 or face a fine of Rs 1,000 for every subscriber whose identity has not been verified.

Some 15 million subscribers are yet to be verified. Operators could also disconnect the unverified subscribers to avoid imposition of fine.

However, the bulk of the unverified subscribers belong to BSNL and MTNL.

Most of the private operators have completed 90-95 per cent of the verification while MTNL is lagging behind, having done so for 50 per cent.

Subscriber verification was mandated by the DoT after the security agencies expressed concern that mobile phones were being used by anti-social elements and terrorists for communication.

There have been instances when the security agencies have unearthed hundreds of connections issued by an operator under a single name.

Meanwhile, the cellular operators have written to the Ministry of Communication to extend the deadline to avoid large-scale disconnections on March 31.

Stringent verification norms set by the Government have forced the cellular operators to pull the plug off more than two million pre-paid card subscribers over the last few months.

The disconnections, however, have not had any major impact on the overall subscriber growth, which has been increasing by more than five million users a month.