Guwahati, Jan 18 : Mobile telephony is the virtual lifeline for India's Northeast India which otherwise has impossible logistics.
But from Wednesday cellphone subscribers may end up losing their connections.
That's because almost eighty per cent of the subscribers are on prepaid connection.
Their connection will expire on Wednesday if they fail to re-verify the details as per revised guidelines by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT).
These guidelines were framed for Jammu and Kashmir in January 2010 and are not relevant in the Northeast India.
Say for example one of the documents that is acceptable is Election Commission Card issued post 2008. Assam doesn't have a single voter ID card.
"They are doing the re-verification process over and over again and we are not sure that even after submitting all documents, whether, we can still continue with the connection. Not sure whether the documents are valid," said a worried mobile owner.
Most subscribers in the North East use Gram Panchayat certificate or Caste and Domicile Certificate but these are now unacceptable.
If 1. 5 crore subscribers are to lose the cellphone connection by Wednesday, just because they cannot fulfill the revised guidelines by DoT, guidelines that are difficult to fulfill by people from North East, the region may fall off the cellphone network map.
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