New Delhi: The government on Wednesday warned telecom operators that their licences could be cancelled and they will face heavy penalties if they fail to stop unauthorised interception of mobile calls. It also asked them to maintain ‘extreme secrecy’ of citizens’ messages. The telecom department had earlier asked all mobile operators to submit a report on action taken by them to address the problem of call drops by July 31.
Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in a written reply to the Lok Sabha said that under the Indian Telegraph Rules service providers will put in place adequate internal checks to ensure that “unauthorised” interception of messages do not take place.
Interception and monitoring of communication messages is governed by the provisions of Indian Telegraph Act which empowers Central and state governments to carry out interception under stipulated conditions.
Mr Prasad further said “The service providers shall be responsible for actions of their employees also in case of established violation of licence conditions pertaining to maintenance of secrecy and confidentiality of information and unauthorised interception of communication.”
He said that action will be taken against the violating service providers “as per provisions of the said Act and this shall include not only fine but also suspension or revocation of their licences”.
Meanwhile, in a letter to the mobile operators on call drops, the DoT said that service providers should undertake a special drive for radio frequency optimisation, analyse the reasons of call drops and take appropriate steps to improve their service.
