The government has directed telecom service providers to prevent subscribers from obtaining mobile connections beyond the prescribed limit, introducing a photo-based identification mechanism that will allow operators to detect individuals who have already reached the maximum number of SIMs permitted in their name. The new system will come into effect from August 24, with telecom companies initially allowed to conduct checks after enrolment before moving to real-time verification by the end of November.
Under existing subscriber-verification rules, an individual can hold a maximum of nine mobile connections across telecom operators and service areas. The ceiling is lower in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and the North-East, where an individual is permitted up to six connections. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said the latest measures are intended to ensure that subscribers cannot bypass these limits by obtaining connections from different operators or service areas.
Photo-based checks from August 24
According to a DoT circular issued on August 17, telecom service providers will have to introduce technical and organisational measures from August 24 to identify people attempting to obtain connections after reaching the prescribed ceiling. Once such a subscriber is identified, the operator will have to inform the applicant that the maximum number of mobile connections permitted in their name has already been reached and that an additional connection cannot be issued.
The government will support the verification process through its Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), which brings together subscriber information uploaded by telecom operators. From August 23, a representative photograph of every subscriber who has already reached the permitted limit will be made available to telecom companies through the platform, enabling operators to compare new applicants against the database.
Telcos to download subscriber images daily
Telecom companies have been instructed to download the photographs made available through the DIP every day and use them to identify subscribers attempting to obtain connections beyond the permitted number. The system is intended to address difficulties faced by individual operators in identifying a person's connections across multiple telecom companies and service areas, since a subscriber may have SIM cards issued by different providers.
Initially, the government will allow operators to conduct this identification on a post-facto basis, meaning the verification can take place on the day after a new connection has been enrolled. If a connection is found to have been activated beyond the permitted limit during this interim period, it will have to be suspended immediately until the discrepancy is resolved. This arrangement is intended as a transitional measure while telecom operators modify their customer-enrolment systems.
Real-time verification by November 30
The DoT has given telecom service providers until November 30 to integrate the identification mechanism directly into their processes for enrolling and activating customers. Once implemented, the system will check the subscriber's status at the point of application itself, allowing an operator to reject an additional connection before the SIM is activated rather than identifying the violation afterwards.
The move is significant because the permitted ceiling applies to the total number of connections held by an individual, rather than separately to SIMs issued by each telecom company. The Digital Intelligence Platform is expected to provide the cross-operator visibility needed to determine whether a subscriber has already reached that cumulative threshold.
Move aimed at curbing misuse of SIMs
The tighter verification regime forms part of the government's broader effort to prevent fraudulent mobile connections from being used for cybercrime, financial fraud and impersonation. Fraudulently obtained or excessively accumulated SIM cards have emerged as an important concern for enforcement agencies because mobile numbers are frequently used to create bank accounts, messaging accounts and other digital identities involved in scams.
The Centre has particularly focused on telecom networks while tackling so-called digital arrest scams, in which fraudsters impersonate police, CBI, ED or other government officials and pressure victims into transferring money. Authorities have been working with telecom companies, banks and online platforms to identify suspicious connections and financial accounts more quickly and disrupt networks used by cybercriminals.
Existing excess connections also under scrutiny
Subscribers who already hold connections beyond the prescribed ceiling are also covered by the government's enforcement framework. The Digital Intelligence Platform contains information on users identified as holding excessive numbers of connections, allowing telecom companies and authorities to initiate verification and disconnection procedures where required. Where excess connections are not surrendered or regularised, connections acquired at a later date can be disconnected first.
The new instructions do not reduce the existing general ceiling of nine connections, or six in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and the North-East. Instead, they introduce a more systematic way of enforcing those limits across different telecom operators. With photo matching beginning from August 24 and real-time checks required by November 30, the government is seeking to close a verification gap that allowed subscribers to potentially accumulate more connections than permitted by obtaining SIMs from multiple providers.