Govt bans pre-paid mobile connections in J&K from Nov 1

The Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered that no fresh pre-paid mobile connections be issued and that existing pre-paid SIM cards should not be renewed in the border state after November 1. There are about 38 lakh pre-paid mobile phone subscribers in the state, according to officials.

The Ministry has asked the Department of Telecommunications to take appropriate action in the matter for implementation of the decision.

The step comes in the wake of reports that proper verification is not being done while providing such pre-paid mobile connections by the service providers/vendors, a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

In some cases, a single person had been issued with multiple number of connections. The fake documents/identity numbers are also reportedly being used by the vendors particularly, in the case of pre-paid connections.

"This situation had given rise to serious security concerns. Hence, the decision," he said.

During his visit to the state last fortnight, Home Minister P Chidambaram had said the government has been making efforts to persuade pre-paid subscribers to switch to post-paid connections due to security issues.

In Jammu and Kashmir, Airtel has nearly 19 lakh subscribers followed by BSNL(12 lakh) and Aircel(seven lakh).