The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has imposed a penalty of Rs 2335.90 crore on telecom operators whose Customer Acquisition Forms (CAF) were found to be “non-complaint” with existing regulations, telecom minister Manoj Sinha said in a written reply to Lok Sabha questions. CAF forms requires a customer to enter his/her details while buying a new SIM card. This is required to prevent fraudulent use of SIM cards and to verify details of the subscriber under current Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. The Telecom Enforcement, Resource & Monitoring (TERM) Cells conducts regular monthly audits of CAF forms collected by telcos. TERM does not review all CAF forms submitted but takes in a sample size of 0.1% to 0.2% of all forms collected by telcos in a circle. As of September 3oth 2016, TERM cell found that out of 7.84 crore CAFs audited, a total of 43.20 lakhs CAFs were found to be non-compliant. The names of telcos who had failed CAF forms were not mentioned. Sinha mentioned that the small sample size of 0.1%-0.2% each month “is good enough size to represent the whole population” since TERM cells carryout verification of sample sizes every month, making it a continuous process. “Penalty is imposed for each failed CAF ranging from Rs. 1,000/- to Rs. 50,000/- per CAF based on the CAF failure rate,” added Sinha in his reply. State-wise failure rates Maharashtra circle had 4.26 lakhs CAF forms (out of 64.37 lakh forms) that were found to be “non-complaint” with norms, which…
