Check it out

New Delhi, May 24: The department of telecom has pulled up Bharti Airtel and state-run BSNL for not verifying subscribers’ credentials properly before providing a connection.

The department has served show-cause notices to the two telecom operators for slipping on this mandatory licence condition.

For every unverified subscriber, the operators may be asked to pay Rs 1,000 as penalty. The norms also provide for a revocation of licence as a more stringent penalty in such cases.

During a sample check in April for Bharti’s Andhra Pradesh circle, the department’s vigilance cell noticed that out of 1,750 samples, only 878 forms had correct documents.

DoT's letter to Bharti said, “The company should show cause within 15 days of receiving this notice as to why necessary action, including imposition of penalty, shall not be taken against the company for the violation.”

Bharti said, “We are still awaiting details from the government on this audit to evaluate and take action, if necessary. We reiterate that Bharti Airtel has completed the process and complied with the directives from DoT on verification of its subscriber base.”

In its letter to BSNL, the department said that subscriber verification norms had not been followed by the operator in the Chennai metro area.

As part of the sample check carried out by DoT, it was noticed that out of 237 samples, only 229 were found to be correct in BSNL’s Chennai metro area.

BSNL’s spokesperson refused to comment.

DoT’s surprise sample check last month revealed that almost all mobile players did not fully comply with the verification norms. Hutch and Reliance had completed the highest number of verifications at 93 per cent, followed by Bharti at 90 per cent. BSNL had verified 87 per cent of its users, while Tata Teleservices and Spice Communications were at 73 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively.