Cell firms to comb lists

Verification of 10% subscribers through random sampling.

A day after the department of telecom asked mobile operators in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Haryana to discontinue all connections issued without proper verification, GSM operators have mooted a compromise formula under which they will undertake through random sampling physical verification of only 10 per cent of the existing as well as new pre-paid subscribers by December 2006.

The Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) has agreed to ensure full documentation of all its subscribers.

However, the move is being opposed by some key members of AUSPI, the CDMA operators association, that support the home ministry's stand that all subscribers should undergo physical verification.

Some AUSPI members have also suggested a referral system under which a prospective customer provides an alternative number (of an existing customer or employer), instead of going through an address verification.

The telecom operator could then verify the antecedents of the subscriber before activating his connection. It has also suggested that the industry stop selling of pre-activated cards with immediate effect.

AUSPI Secretary General S C Khanna told Business Standard: "We will have a meeting of all AUSPI members on Wednesday, and then decide on the issue."

At a meeting between Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran and the operators in the first week of July, COAI members had made it clear that it was not possible to have 100 per cent physical verification of the subscriber base.

However, DoT officials made it clear that a solution had to be found which was acceptable to the home ministry "" in light of the terrorist threat (heightened by the Mumbai bomb blasts).

TV Ramachandran, director general of COAI, said: "It's virtually impossible to undertake 100 per cent physical verification. That is why we have suggested 10 per cent."