The government has directed the telecom service providers not to issue mobile connections for more than three months to foreign tourists visiting India. The move is aimed at checking wide misuse of SIM cards in the country. The service providers have been asked to accept passport with valid visa as proof for issuance of a mobile connection to a visiting foreigner.
“Any mobile connection issued to a foreigner should not have a validity beyond the validity of the visa. In case of foreign tourist, the validity of connection should not be beyond the visa period and also not exceed three months at a time even if the validity of the visa is beyond three months,” say the new guidelines vetted by Union Home Ministry.
The government directive comes after reports of misuse of mobile connections by foreigners, even after leaving the country. The new guidelines allow service providers to use tour operator’s address or the address of the tourist’s temporary residence, as the local reference. It has been made compulsary for the licensees to sign the form prior to activating the SIM card for a foreigner, to ensure the information on the form is correct and verified.
It’s learnt security agencies have also raised concerns over the telecom operators failing to provide details of mobile connections, especially for prepaid SIM cards.
“The date of sale of SIM and activation of SIM is required to be established from the entries in the CAF. For this purpose, entry of date is to be made with the signature of subscriber at the time of filing of CAF,” say the revised guidelines on submitting a Consumer Application Form.
Source: Hindustan Times
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