Airtel, Jio top suspected mobile users list; Vodafone Idea with most users over nine SIM cards each

An analysis by the department of telecommunications (DoT) has found that telecom operators – Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have the most number of suspected mobile users, meaning those who got connections on forged documents, across the country. Besides, Vodafone Idea has the most users having SIM cards beyond the prescribed limit of nine, on a single-ID.

Of the 1.14 billion mobile connections, in over 2.1 million cases across telcos including Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea, BSNL and MTNL, DoT found invalid/non-existent or fake/forged proof of identity or address used for SIM subscription. Further, a total of 19.2 million cases have been detected where one person has subscribed more than the government-prescribed limit of individual mobile connections, according to data by DoT.

The issue assumes significance at a time when the government is working to curb the menace of fake SIM cards and financial fraud. Lately, it also issued rules that required telcos to register SIM card sellers and conduct their proper KYC before onboarding them into the system, as well as stop the sales of bulk SIM cards.

Following the analysis of the mobile user base pan-India, DoT in a recent letter has asked all the telecom operators to carry out re-verification and disconnect such connections failing re-verification or found in excess of the prescribed individual limit. A copy of the letter was seen by FE.

“The veracity of the PoI/PoA (proof of identity/address) document used is doubtful and it appears fabricated documents have been used for SIM subscription,” DoT said in the letter.

With regard to the 2.1 million suspected mobile users list, Airtel has a maximum 745,929 users who are expected to have got connections to fake documents. Jio has 534,053 such connections, followed by Vodafone Idea with 527,922 users, BSNL with 299,412 users, and MTNL with 1,076 users, DoT data said.

Top five circles, from where these cases have been reported are – Uttar Pradesh (East), Assam, Uttar Pradesh (West), Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.

On the issue of more than nine SIM cards linked to individual IDs, Vodafone Idea has the highest 8.4 million such connections, followed by Airtel with over 4.5 million users, Jio with 4.2 million users, and BSNL with 2.1 million users, according to DoT data.

DoT, however, said the data on higher SIM cards on an individual ID, also includes some of the cases where telecom operators have erroneously assigned individual category in place of erstwhile bulk category.

Top five circles pertaining to such mobile connections are – Uttar Pradesh (East), Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana.

Earlier this month, DoT also launched Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) for real time intelligence sharing, information exchange and coordination among the stakeholders such as telecom service providers, law enforcement agencies, banks and financial institutions, social media platforms, identity document issuing authorities, among others. The portal also contains information regarding the cases detected as misuse of telecom resources. The shared information could be useful to the stakeholders in their respective domains, the government said.

In the communication to telcos, DoT has asked telcos to take necessary action for data cleansing that includes gibberish data and data entry errors, after checking the same with documents proofs submitted by the telecom subscribers.
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