The Hindu Business Line : ID verification: Erring telecom operators fined

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.

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