Crime Today News
In a move aimed at verifying phone numbers of users, the Department of Telecommunications is setting up a mobile number validation (MNV) platform. The platform will prevent fraudsters from using temporary or virtual phone numbers, thus stopping the mass creation of fake accounts using burner numbers. The platform will help verify whether a mobile number used by customers actually belongs to them. This will be beneficial for social media companies, banks and e-commerce players for weeding out fake accounts.
The draft amendments to the Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Rules, 2024, also allow the Department of Telecommunications to send fraud-related directives to any entity using phone numbers for user validation, including OTTs.
Previously, OTT regulation came largely under ambit of the Information Technology Rules (ITR) – Meity and sectoral regulators. Under the new draft cybersecurity rules’ definition of telecommunication identifier user entity (TIUE), “any person, other than a licensee or authorised entity, which uses telecommunication identifiers like mobile numbers for identification of customers/ users or for provisioning and delivery of services,” can come within its scope.
The draft calls for a mobile number validation or MNV platform that cross-checks whether a suspected or flagged number actually belongs to the reported customers or users, as per the licensee’s database. The MNV platform will be established by the central government.
The concerned TIUE can either pay ₹3 per suspected request. Alternatively, the government can also direct the TIUE to verify a suspected number by paying ₹1.5 per request.
“Mobile number validation under this rule shall be solely for the purpose of validation of customers or users associated with a telecommunication identifier for the purpose of services linked to such identifier, and the TIUE, authorised entity and licensee, as the case may be, shall ensure compliance with applicable laws relating to data protection for this purpose,” said the draft.
According to Tarun Wig, Co-Founder & CEO, Innefu Labs, the move can actually help streamline verification obligation for some OTTs and ease KYC obligations.
“What an OTT like WhatsApp did until now was provide data to the government on demand basis. Now, if Whatsapp comes across suspicious numbers, it can send those numbers to MNV platform. For the messaging app or even Amazon, this can be very beneficial,” he said.
On the other hand, Sumeysh Srivastava, Associate Director, Public Policy at The Quantum Hub, said the draft can increase compliance cost of OTTs.
“If you’re doing verification based on a direction from the government, that is going to cost you ₹1.5 rupees per request. Based on the number of users you have, it can be huge. This also leaves open the possibility of the government asking a platform to validate all its users. There’s no limitation.”
Published on June 26, 2025
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