Illegal international call routing cause Rs 145 cr loss: Govt

New Delhi, Apr 28 (UNI) The Centre today said the illegal routing of international calls is assessed to have caused a loss of about Rs 145 crore during the last three financial years.

The number of set up detected and the quantum of national revenue loss assessed, pertaining to the year 2007-08 are 26 and Rs 18.26 crore respectively, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Jyotiraditya M Scindia informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

Thirty four Vigilance Telecom Monitoring (VTM) Cells have been created under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in various Licence Telecom Service Areas and Major Telecom Districts of the country.

The Minister said the VTM Cells, with the help of law enforcement agencies, constantly endeavour to check illegal routing of international calls.

Mr Scindia said the government has set up an Inter Ministerial Group coordinated by the DoT which is in place to look into the enhanced role and functions of VTM Cells and recommend the activities to be carried out by VTM Cells concerning security aspects.

The Government is also setting up a Centre for Communication Security Research and Monitoring, where Call Data Records (CDRs) will be analysed for detection of illegal routing of calls and grey market telecom set up.

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