 Early Times Report
Jammu, July 23: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has disconnected more than 88 lakh suspicious mobile connections using its AI-based ASTR engine, the Government informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Replying to a question by Raghav Chadha, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said the DoT has developed ASTR (Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics Tool) to identify suspicious mobile connections.
“As on July 15, 2026, more than 88 lakh mobile connections have been disconnected after failing reverification,” the Minister said.
The Government also shared details of the 'Chakshu' facility under the Sanchar Saathi platform, which enables citizens to report suspected fraudulent communications.
According to the Minister, the DoT does not act on individual complaints alone but uses the crowd-sourced data for analysis to detect misuse of telecom resources. Based on 11.18 lakh reports submitted by citizens through Sanchar Saathi, the department has disconnected 88 lakh mobile connections as of July 15, 2026.
On coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Government clarified that matters related to cybercrime fall under the jurisdiction of the MHA, while police and public order are state subjects under the Constitution.
However, the DoT has developed a Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) for two-way information sharing with stakeholders, including the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) of the MHA, to prevent misuse of telecom resources for cybercrime and financial fraud.
Regarding the DoT-SEBI Memorandum of Understanding, the Minister said the Securities and Exchange Board of India has issued advisories to its regulated entities to join the Digital Intelligence Platform for information sharing.
The DoT has also conducted awareness and onboarding sessions for SEBI-regulated entities, and more than 50 entities have already been integrated with the platform, he added.
The Government said the initiative is aimed at creating a shared intelligence network to curb financial fraud, identity theft, and cyber-enabled crimes by enabling real-time information exchange among telecom, financial, and law-enforcement stakeholders. |
