Here is a bad news for of Pre-paid mobile phone subscribers in Jammu & Kashmir.Millions of Prepaid Mobile service users may no longer be able to use their mobile phone connections. This is because; the government is examining the possibility of banning pre-paid cellular services in these security sensitive areas.
According to the latest media reports from PTI, the Government of India has plans for banning Prepaid mobile service in the in the Kashmir valley Jammu and Kashmir state for security reasons.
Union Home Minister Mr. P Chidambaram announced this while addressing the media in Srinagar at the All India Editors’ Conference organized by Press Information Bureau. Mr. P Chidambaram said “I urge everyone to switch over to post-paid mobile connections. We may have to ban the use of pre-paid connection for a while in the Kashmir valley if people do not switch over to post-paid”.
This can affect nearly 38 lakh Mobile Subsribers of the state who use prepaid connections from various mobile service operators. The GSM Mobile Operator Airtel has nearly 19 lakh GSM subscribers followed by BSNL having 12 lakh and Aircel having 7 lakh.
Currently, Indian citizens of other states who have a pre-paid connection are not allowed roaming facilities while visiting J&K and the seven North Eastern states. Media has learnt that the government has no plans to lift this restriction in the immediate future.
However, critics say that a mere ban on pre-paid mobile connections will not address security issues, especially considering that residents have access to other access to other technologies such as internet telephony, e-mail, chat services from several web portals such as Google and Yahoo! and even satellite phones.
