Wednesday, June 21 2006 10:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Buying or selling prepaid mobile phone connections in India may no longer be all that easy.

The government now wants all relevant documents to be produced to ascertain the user's credentials. Even retailers of mobile service have come under the scanner after the startling discovery by the Haryana police recently that over 182,000 illegal connections had been given to people in the state.

The discovery has not only shaken the government and law-enforcing agencies but also exposed security threats posed by organised crime cartels and militant groups.

"Retailers flouting protocol while selling mobile phone connections have posed serious security risks in most parts of the country," said a senior official of Mumbai Police.

"The discovery by the Haryana police is a pointer to how serious the matter is in terms of security threats," the official told sources, adding thousands of mobile telephones may be in the hands of criminals and subversives.

"For a long time we have been pointing out the serious threats posed by illegal mobile connections. But due to the lack of proper mechanism to keep a tab on genuine subscribers, the retailers are constantly flouting rules," he said.

The discovery has also woken up two of India's leading telecom industry lobbies to compile a database of over 500,000 retailers. They also feel that retailers play a big role in the lack of adequate verification of prepaid phones.

Now retailers across the country stand the risk of losing permits if they are found flouting protocol while selling telephone connections two of them have already been blacklisted after internal audits.

The Apex Advisory Council for Telecom in India (ACT), formed in May by the Association of United Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) and the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) to ensure proper verification of subscribers, conducted the audits.

"The ACT was formed after the central government and law-enforcing agencies told us about the lapses in subscriber verifications as mandated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)," said T.V. Ramachandran, director general of COIA.

"To address this concern, the entire industry in India has come together through a common platform to set up the ACT to ensure and oversee that proper subscriber verification procedures are followed," he added.

"A comprehensive database of over 500,000 telecom retailers in the country is being compiled. Through this database, ACT will ensure retailers do not indulge in any malpractices while selling cell phone connections," he said.

The ACT has spelt out a four-stage procedure to be followed before activating a new mobile connection. The apex body, on its part, will also conduct independent audits of individual retailers to assess compliance of the procedures.