The home ministry on Monday asked telecom operators in J&K to pull up their socks and fulfill verification norms prescribed by the government earlier this year.
Government sources said Home Secretary GK Pillai told mobile companies that an audit of the compliance of the telecom department’s guidelines issued in January had revealed nearly 65 per cent violation of the verification norms for pre-paid customers.
Seven telecom firms — Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, RCom, Idea, Vodafone and BSNL — attended the meeting. They have been asked them to complete the verification of all subscribers and come back for another review meeting at the home ministry.
The telecom companies were found to be wanting in implementing the guidelines on bulk messaging too that had been used to spread rumours in recent weeks.
The Department of Telecommunications, in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, had issued guidelines about six months ago directing mobile operators to complete the process of subscriber verification in a time-bound manner in view of the security concerns.
Sources said progress on this front has been extremely slow and the security agencies have expressed concerns on this front.
Use of mobile telephones in the troubled states has been a matter of concern, with the Centre last year banning the use of pre-paid mobile services on grounds that the service was being misused by terrorists and terror groups.
{{/usCountry}}Use of mobile telephones in the troubled states has been a matter of concern, with the Centre last year banning the use of pre-paid mobile services on grounds that the service was being misused by terrorists and terror groups.
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