DoT rings fine for unverified customer

NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecom (DoT) has decided to crack the whip on telecom operators and levy heavy penalties on them, after random sample checks carried by it across the country have revealed that all service providers were still offering services to considerable numbers of unverified customers.

Last year, DoT had directed all companies to carry out verification of their subscriber base by March 31, 2007.

However, a recent sample check by the DoT to ascertain the authenticity of operators’ claims have shown that Hutch and Reliance Communications have a verified base of 93%, followed by Bharti Airtel at 90%, BSNL at 86% with Tata Teleservices being the lowest at 73%.

In fact, no operator had a 100% compliance record as mandated by the government. “We plan to impose a fine of Rs 1,000 per unverified customer on these operators. We will act against state-owned BSNL and MTNL also. We cannot compromise on national security,” a DoT official told ET.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Tata Teleservices (TTSL) has taken an exception to the statement made by some officials in DoT, saying the operator had completed only 73% subscriber verification. TTSL president (corporate affairs) Ashok Sud said the company is 99.7% compliant with the verification norms despite the non-standardisation of the process. “It is unfair to make such comments and conclusions without first giving the companies a chance to present their position,” he said in a statement in Mumbai.

Media reports have said that according to a sample survey by the DoT, Tatas had the lowest verified users at 73%. Tatas are the only operator which has been insisting on 100% subscriber verification since last year. TTSL said the company was asked to produce state-by-state break-ups in some circles. “In all cases, the information required by officials is not in a standard format...many of these instructions reaching us the day before the required information needed to be produced, thereby imposing on TTSL very short turnaround timelines. Despite these handicaps, TTSL was the first operator to submit the customer application form (CAF) forms in many circles,” Mr Sud said.—Our Bureau

The company added that though it has not been contacted by the ministry with the said report or any of its findings, it “feels the need to respond since tremendous efforts have been put in into the task of subscriber verification”.