Department of Telecommunications to deactivate extra SIM of subscribers beyond 9 connections

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued an order to re-verify the SIM of subscribers holding beyond nine connections across India and six connections in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, North East and Assam and disconnect in the case of non-verification.

The subscribers will be given the option to choose the connection they want to retain and deactivate the rest of the connections, according to the order issued on December 7.

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"If during the data analytics carried out by DoT, it is found that an individual subscriber is having more than nine mobile connections (six in the case of J&K, NE and Assam LSAs) across all the TSPs (telecom service providers), all the mobile connections will be flagged for re-verification," the DoT order said.

The order comes from DoT to check incidence of financial crimes, pesky calls, automated calls and fraudulent activities.

The DoT has asked telecom operators to remove all the flagged mobile connections from the database that are not in use as per the rule.

The outgoing (including data services) facilities of the "flagged mobile connection shall be suspended within 30 days" and "the incoming service shall be suspended within 45 days" in case subscriber has turned up for verification and exercises his option to surrender, transfer to disconnect mobile connections.

In case no subscriber turns up for re-verification, the flagged number will be deactivated within 60 days to be counted from December 7.

"In case of a subscriber who is on international roaming or with physical disability or hospitalisation, additional 30 days will be provided...," the order said.

However, if the number has been flagged by any law enforcement agencies or financial institution or identified as a pesky caller then the outgoing facilities will be suspended within 5 days, incoming within 10 days and complete disconnection within 15 days in case no one turns up for verification.

"The said timelines shall be regularly intimated by the TSPs to the subscribers of flagged mobile connections via SMSs/IVRS/e-mail/app or any other available methods. The subscribers shall also be regularly intimated about the reason for barring of services," the order said.