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Pre-paid cell users to furnish ID for connection

In order to increase vigilance against misuse of pre-paid cellular cards by anti-national elements, cellular operators in Delhi announced that it would now be mandatory for all pre-paid subscribers to verify their identities before acquiring a connection, even as players admitted that the move would hit sales initially.

The cellular players in Delhi -- Airtel, Hutchison Essar and MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam) - also said that the process of verification currently targeting the new connections would also be extended to the existing pre-paid customers, and cautioned that the service would not be offered to those customers unwilling to furnish their identity by July 31.

"The country's security threat from anti-national elements is a concern that is shared by the industry at large.

"We have taken a step to correct all deviations in the pre-paid category thus making it mandatory for all pre-paid subscribers to first verify their identity before acquiring a new connection," Sudershan Banerjee, CEO of Hutchison Essar told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday.

All SIM cards which were available in the market would no longer be activated on purchase, but only after the consumer submits all relevant and supporting documents - photo ID card, proof of address such as driving licence, PAN number and passport.

The impact of the move can itself be gauged from the fact that Essar, which deactivated the connections on Monday has witnessed a drop of 90 per cent in pre-paid sales.

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