Cellcos team up for patron headcount

Government has been pushing all operators to verify their pre-paid connection holders8217; names and addresses more thoroughly. Fears are, terrorists may find the current process of getting a pre-paid mobile connection far too easy.

To quell doubts, the rival GSM and CDMA camps have set aside differences and shaped up an Apex Advisory Council for Telecom in India AACTI. The only activity of this council will be to organise a uniform procedure to count mobile phone subscriptions. It will also survey addresses given by subscribers to telecom firms8217; dealers while buying new connections.

Even public sector telecom service firms BSNL and MTNL are part of the effort, making the verification exercise mandatory and country-wide. The private sector, represented by GSM industry association COAI and CDMA industry association AUSPI, is getting the Department of Posts DoP to conduct background checks on all subscribers. Financial terms are curently being discussed with the DoP, which has been negotiating terms with operators for the last two-three months.

Under the plan, AACTI will hand over subscriber8217;s names and addresses to postmen, who will verify the information for correctness, while they go from door to door on their usual rounds.

A likely date for the activity to begin is May 24, though a meeting of cellular and CDMA operators both public and private sector is scheduled on May 2 to decide the exact timing.

8216;8216;On the subscriber verification issue, we CDMA and GSM, public and private sector have totally got together to implement common norms and standards for security compliance. We are in advanced sages of dialogue with DoP to get subscribers accurately verified by postmen,8217;8217; said T.V. Ramachandran, director-general, COAI.

A central registry of dealers selling mobile phone connections is also in the works to make it easier for firms to track their customers. Already, several operators have sent out letters to their dealers telling them about the importance of address and background verification and updating them about the registration plans.

The telecom industry is also planning a media blitz to advertise the importance of providing correct contact information to dealers. 8216;8216;We are planning newspaper advertisements, paper leaflets and posters to educate customers about the importance of providing this information correctly. The dealers will still be responsible for collecting addresses of subscribers, but the Department of Posts will cross-check them,8217;8217; said S.C. Khanna, Director-General, AUSPI.

Most of the verification troubles arise in the pre-paid segment, which makes up some 75 per cent of the mobile user base. According to Trai, India had 90 million mobiles in March 2006, of which around 5 million were added in March alone. The explosive growth has made telecom a regulatory headache, specially when each operator follows different subscriber tracking methods.