DoT Sets Deadline For Subscriber Re-Verification in Northeast

Guwahati, Nov 2 : Mobile network operators offering services in the Assam and Northeast telecom circles have been called on by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to complete the re-verification of their subscribers by early next year before any unregistered customers are prevented from accessing their service.

According to India’s Economic Times, the regulator has said that after 19 January 2011 those subscribers in the two regions that have failed to re-provide their details to their respective operators will be disconnected.

Cellcos with a presence in Assam and the North East have, however, criticised the timeframe, with it understood that many believe they will be unable to process the subscriber data in time.

‘There are nearly 50,000 multi-brand mobile stores/distributors in the region and merely a few hundred have been security cleared by DoT's telecom equipment resource monitoring wing.

As a result, it will be pretty difficult for these franchisees to conclude the customer re-verification exercise of 20 million existing mobile users by 19 January as part of the new security rules,’ noted an unnamed executive at state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).