Government is likely to decide on Monday whether to continue prepaid mobile phone services in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and other Northeastern States beyond March 31. If a decision is not taken within next two days, about 33 million subscribers may be affected. A high-level committee, headed by Home Secretary lC Goyal, will deliberate on the issue on Monday where a final decision is expected to be taken, sources told PTI.
The Home Ministry is expected to give its nod to continue the prepaid mobile services in the three telecom circles — J&K, Assam and northeast — with some riders that include restrictions on some frontier pockets and sensitive areas where there are presence of militant groups. A few norms could also be added in the existing subscriber verification process as J&K shares border with Pakistan while most of the Northeastern States share international border with countries like China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Out of roughly 35 million telecom subscribers in the three circles, about 33 millions are prepaid subscribers. Currently, telecom companies, offering GSM and CDMA technology platform, have permission to continue the service in these sensitive regions till March 31.