New Rule: A person can have 9 mobile phone connections maximum, 6 in J&K, NE
New Delhi, Aug 19: An individual person can now possess up to nine mobile connections across all operators and all circles, and the maximum of six in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and the North-East, according to a latest order of the Department of Telecom (DoT).
The number of connections possessed by each individual will be ascertained by the telecom operators using photograph of the subscribers with effect from August 24, according to the circular.
If the number of connections possessed by an individual exceeds 9, the “numbers acquired at the later date will be disconnected” first.
Subscribers, who have hit the ceiling on mobile connections in their name, will be prevented from buying any more SIM cards by the telecom operators.
The DoT will put a photo of each subscriber, who has reached the limit, on its Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP)—the system that tracks how many connections a person holds across companies and circles.
Under the circular, “a representative image of the photo of each such subscriber who has already touched the prescribed limit for mobile connections in his name would be made available on DIP” from August 23.
Operators have been told to “download all such images on daily basis so that such subscribers could be prevented from crossing the prescribed limit”.
From August 24, telecom service providers (TSPs) are to match applicants against those images.
When someone who has reached the cap tries for a fresh connection, the operator must tell him “that he already has maximum number of mobile connections permitted to an individual and accordingly, a new mobile connection cannot be provided to him”.
In the first phase, the check may run a day after enrolment, in a catch-up mode.
Companies have to build it into the sign-up process and run it in real time by 30 November.
Till then, the circular says, “any mobile connection activated beyond the prescribed limit for a day shall be immediately suspended till resolution of the issue”.
The report listed other telecom-side steps around it.
They include keeping point-of-sale and SIM supply-chain data on the DIP traceable for investigators, SIM-binding by messaging apps so that access is tied to the SIM in the device, finishing all subscriber verification within two months, and blocking international calls that fake Indian caller IDs. (BVI)
