MHA asks DoT to instruct telcos to digitise subscriber info

The Home Ministry has asked the Telecom Ministry to ensure speedy digitisation of customer application forms (CAFs), a move which comes after 1.2 crore forms containing crucial data at a mobile firm were lost in a recent fire.

PTI | April 21, 2011



The Home Ministry has asked the Telecom Ministry to ensure speedy digitisation of customer application forms (CAFs), a move which comes after 1.2 crore forms containing crucial data at a mobile firm were lost in a recent fire.

The direction comes in the wake of a fire at a Gujarat warehouse, where about two crore CAFs of Idea Cellular were stored. Of these, only 80 lakh records had been scanned, while 1.2 crore CAF records were destroyed irretrievably.

"Telecom service providers (TSPs) must ensure quick and time bound scanning of all CAFs. The scanning of CAFs should be done with high precision scanners so that details are not lost during digitisation," the Ministry has said in a communication to the Department of Telecom (DoT).

It has also suggested that operators should retain the scanned CAF data in duplicate.

Enquiries into the fire accident revealed that Idea Cellular had outsourced the storage and maintenance of CAFs.

Taking a strong stance on the outsourcing agency being privy to requisitions made by the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), the Ministry said, "In case storage and upkeep of CAFs is outsourced, the agency to which the job is outsourced, should never become privy to the requisitions placed by the LEAs on the telecom service providers for CAF documents."

During the investigations, IB found that the firm to which the job had been outsourced was privy to requisitions made by LEAs for CAF documents, which is a security lapse.

The MHA has asked DoT to instruct all telecom service providers to comply with the instructions given by the security agencies.

 

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