The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to disconnect over 27 lakh SIM cards. This is for the Bihar License Service Area (LSA). Amongst the 27 lakh SIM cards, over 3 lakh SIMs have been issued by the state-run telecom company (BSNL), while the remaining have been issued by the private telcos including Airtel, Jio, Vodafone Idea (Vi). This crackdown is primarily for customers who have more than nine SIM cards under their name. According to the rules set by DoT, no mobile subscriber in India can have more than nine SIM cards under his/her name.
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Users who have more than nine SIM cards will have to inform their respective telecom operators and tell them which SIMs they are ready to get rid of. In case they do not do so, their 10th SIM card will be deactivated automatically. This move from the government comes as a response to the rising cyber crime in Bihar, said an IANS report.
According to the report, there are thousands of individuals in Bihar who have more than nine SIMs registered under their names. Limiting the number of SIM cards one user can have reduces the scope of cyber crime as traceability becomes easier for the authorities.
