Telcos Disconnect 73 Lakh Mobile Connections: MoS Communications

New Delhi, Aug 7 (PTI) Nearly 73 lakh mobile connections have been disconnected by telcos so far for failing reverification, after the telecom department flagged such mobile connections, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has developed a system to detect fraudulent mobile connections taken on fake proof of identity or proof of address documents, and such connections are flagged to telecom service providers (TSPs) for reverification.

"Till date, DoT has identified about 81 lakh such suspected mobile connections and out of which about 73 lakh mobile connections have been disconnected by the TSPs failing reverification," Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

He was replying to a question related to activation of SIMs by use of fake proof.

The minister further said that about 1.92 crore mobile connections held by about 16 lakh subscribers, exceeding the stipulated limit of mobile connections that an individual can hold across all the operators on pan-India basis, were identified by DoT and referred to telecom operators for necessary action.

"About 66 lakh such mobile connections have been disconnected by the telecom service providers thereby bringing the mobiles connections within the prescribed limit for these 16 lakh subscribers," the minister said.