The Hindu Business Line : ‘Tough to verify identity of all mobile subscribers’

New Delhi, Dec. 2 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.

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