Ban on pre-paid mobile phone services regressive:Omar

Srinagar, Feb 21 (PTI) Terming the possibility ofblanket ban on prepaid mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir asregressive, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today blamed theservice providers for dragging their feet on verification.

"It''s the mobile service providers who are draggingtheir heels regarding verification and creating a problem foreveryone else," Omar said on the micro-blogging site twitter.

Omar said imposing a blanket ban would be a regressiveand counter-productive measure and ways have to be found toavoid it.

"I agree, a blanket ban is regressive andcounter-productive. How to avoid it is to be worked out," hesaid.

Department of Telecommunication in a notification tomobile operations extended the permission for prepaid mobileconnections in Jammu and Kashmir till March 31, 2011, givingrise to apprehensions that the service might be banned.

The notification was issued after discrepancies andshortcomings came to surface with regard to the verificationof subscriber credentials in many cases.

Prepaid connections in the state were banned in 2009as many SIM cards were recovered from the possession ofmilitants and their sympathisers. However, the ban waslifted in January 2010 but strict guidelines forre-verification were notified to the telecom companies. PTIMIJ