GOVERNMENT HAS A ‘7-DAY’ SOLUTION FOR MOBILE NUMBER FRAUDS

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reduced the waiting period for porting mobile numbers after sim swap from 10 to 7 days. The move comes amidst rising phone number frauds across the country.

“Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), on 14th March, 2024, issued the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Ninth amendment) Regulations, 2024, which will come into force on 1st July 2024,” the regulator said in a press release.

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With the new regulation, TRAI has added an additional criterions for rejection of the request for allocation of a Unique Porting Code (UPC). The regulator said that a UPC shall not be allocated if the request for the UPC has been made before the expiry of seven days from the date of SIM swap/placement.

In its release, TRAI said that these amendments are aimed at curbing the porting of mobile numbers by way of fraudulent SIM swap/replacement by unscrupulous elements.

Recently, the Telecommunications Act 2023 came into effect. Among other changes, the new telecom law allows the government to take control of telecom operators in case of emergency. The law also provides a legal framework for Regulatory Sandbox to facilitate innovation, and deployment of new technology.

Another big change coming with the new telecom law is that it allows people to have a maximum of nine cards registered in their names. For those living in Jammu & Kashmir and northeastern states, the law allows only up to six SIM cards per person. As per DoT regulations too, 9 SIM cards are currently allowed per ID with Aadhaar verification.

The law abolishes the licence regime, and replaces it with an authorisation mechanism. The government has asked TRAI to suggest terms and conditions for authorisation structure to regulate the industry.