Who owns your cell number - Operator version of MNP

 There are two types of MNP(Mobile Number Portability) available in India, we all familiar with the one that is option to choose your operator without changing your mobile number.
     But there is another type of MNP exists in India, that's for the mobile operators. The option to choose the active customer.
If you are not using your mobile number(switched off /lost) continuously for 2 months, you may lose your number. It's as simple as that.
Sim card, mobile number, network operator, MNP, mobile number portability,

Two incidents:

  1. We switched off our father's cell phone after he passed away(in 2012), within three months, I accidentally called his number, but some strange lady took the call and I triple checked the number, it's the same number, but some stranger owns it now. 
  2. Vice versa: Recently, I bought a new Sim card from a roadside retailer, I am receiving strange calls and messages because I owns someone's number now. It's happening to my brother, cousins, friends and almost half of the cell phone population in India. 


Eventually, few questions arise,
Who is responsible for this?
Of course the network operator and the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)

Is there any time period there for unused Sim card deactivation?
As per TRAI rules, unused mobile numbers will be deactivated in two months. Probably, the network operator can sell it to the new customers.

Why?


The operator must inform
Before deactivation, the mobile operator must inform or get approval from the customer by calling him( friend or relative's number) or through email.
 When I buy a Sim card and activated it using a government issued photo ID, I am the damn owner of that number. The process is similar to registering a motor vehicle or land registration. So, the number definitely associated with me.
  Take another example, if you are a tenant in a rental house, you are living there for a certain time and for some reasons the house owner needs the house, can he just kick you out from the house?

If I buy a new Sim card and the previous owner of that number associated with fraudulent activities or pro terror activities, is it OK?
(You can imagine thousands of similar examples or even worse)

Today everybody talking about privacy, but nobody cares about this issue.

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