TRAI looks to check misuse of recalled numbers

New Delhi: The telecom regulator has said its direction asking mobile phone operators to regularly submit lists of surrendered numbers is aimed at preventing misuse because the 10-digit numbers are reassigned to other users after six months.

“Providing a revocation list is important to check misuse. If a consumer surrenders a number, the transactional one-time password or OTP will go to the original number. There was no way of redirecting and the new user may gain access to another’s identity,” Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Ram Sewak Sharma told ET.