Indian Govt bans pre-paid cell because of "separatists"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3448581.stm The Indian government has banned the sale of pre-paid cash cards for cell phones in the northeastern states of Assam and Meghalaya, allegedly because separatists have bought lots of them for hard-to-trace communications. Reliance Telephone, who runs cell service in those areas, didn't feel they had a choice about complying. (If it were VSNL, the former telecom monopoly, that'd be no surprise, but Reliance is a big competitor.) Consumer groups are extremely upset and vocal (at least until their current phone cards run out, at which point they'll become much quieter...) We'll see how long Bogus Homeland Security can override consumers and smugglers.-- Bill Stewart bill.stewart@pobox.com
hi, The threat from seperatists is very real from north eastern states of india, the terrain is full of mountains and jungle, the army itself go in big groups in this region. Private gun owner ship(smuggled) are very high in this part of the country. Sarath. --- Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com> wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3448581.stm
The Indian government has banned the sale of pre-paid cash cards for cell phones in the northeastern states of Assam and Meghalaya, allegedly because separatists have bought lots of them for hard-to-trace communications. Reliance Telephone, who runs cell service in those areas, didn't feel they had a choice about complying. (If it were VSNL, the former telecom monopoly, that'd be no surprise, but Reliance is a big competitor.) Consumer groups are extremely upset and vocal (at least until their current phone cards run out, at which point they'll become much quieter...) We'll see how long Bogus Homeland Security can override consumers and smugglers.--
Bill Stewart bill.stewart@pobox.com
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participants (2)
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Bill Stewart -
Sarad AV