The Supreme Court (SC) has made it clear that it won't ask the telcos to stop issuing phone numbers which were deactivated. The pain point for the consumer here is that when the SIM is deactivated, the number is reissued to some other person after a certain amount of time (90 days). Due to this, the personal information that is associated with the deactivated number, such as the data that is there for WhatsApp may become accessible to another person the number is issued to.
Read More - Vodafone Idea Expects Promoter Equity Infusion to Conclude this Quarter
According to a TNN report, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti dismissed a petition by advocate Rajeshwari, who had asked the apex court to send a directive to TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) to instruct the telcos from not reissuing the deactivated mobile numbers to new customers.
But TRAI, through advocate Sanjay Kapur, told the apex court that the reallocation of numbering resources is under the domain of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Further, the number which has been deactivated is not reissued until 90 days. Thus, the SC believes that it is the duty of the customer to take adequate steps to ensure that privacy is maintained. Users can deactivate their WhatsApp account if they want to discontinue their number.
Read More - Vodafone Idea Wi-Fi Calling is Available in these Places
Thus, the SC isn't going to entertain the request of advocate Rajeshwari. Further, numbering resources are scarce in nature and can't be wasted. Thus, it is necessary that any number that is deactivated is brought to the market at a certain time to be reallocated to someone else. DoT issues additional numbering resources to the telcos as and when necessary. The list of numbers that the telcos get is regularly updated on the DoT website and displayed to the public for the sake of transparency.
