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| Pillai summons cell-phone bosses | | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
New Delhi, Dec 15: Even as the Center is continuously saying no to restoration of pre-paid cell phone services, the Home Ministry is reported to have called a meeting with top bosses of mobile operators tomorrow to discuss how prepaid mobile services can be made foolproof in terms of security in Jammu and Kashmir.
Home Secretary G K Pillai will have a meeting with the CEOs on new security features and verification obligations ensuring the foolproof security in prepaid mobile services in the state, according to official sources.
Amid security concerns, the Centre had last month banned prepaid mobile phone connections in J&K sparking widespread protests.
CEOs and CMDs of BSNL, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Telecom, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Aircel and Idea have been invited to the meeting as these companies offer mobile services in the state.
The Supreme Court also today granted two weeks time to the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir Government to respond to a petition challenging the ban on pre-paid mobile phone services in the State.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices J M Panchal and B S Chauhan posted the matter for further hearing on January 8.
The apex court had on November 16 issued notices to the ministries of Home and Telecom and the State Government asking them to respond within two weeks about security concerns and economical issues raised in the PIL, filed by the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party.
The move to ban prepaid services had affected nearly 38 lakh subscribers in the State.
The step came in the wake of reports that proper verification is not being done while providing such prepaid mobile connections by service providers/vendors.
In some cases, a single person had been issued with multiple number of connections. Fake documents/identity numbers are also reportedly being used by the vendors particularly, in the case of pre-paid connections.
Home Minister P Chidambaram had ealier said the government has been making efforts to persuade prepaid subscribers to switch to postpaid connections due to security issues.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Airtel has nearly 19 lakh subscribers followed by BSNL having 12 lakh and Aircel having seven lakh. |
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