Bahrain’s telecom watchdog is investigating 10 cases of travel bans imposed on expatriates with outstanding phone bills, who allegedly never registered for mobile services.

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) officials yesterday (March 30) pledged to take strict action against violating telecom service providers during a meeting with Indian diplomats, who claimed their nationals were victims of identity thefts, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The expats have found themselves stranded in Bahrain after telecommunication companies issued travel bans because of non-payment of mobile phone bills, which the residents claimed they never applied for.

“We are deeply concerned with the amount of open cases that we have uncovered in this investigation and are prepared to explore every possible avenue within our authority to help resolve them,” TRA cyber security director Dr Khalid bin Duaij Al Khalifa told the GDN.

“We will co-operate with the relevant authorities in an effort to raise awareness on this issue.”

The TRA plans to issue new guidelines to regulate the registration of mobile telecommunications services, especially for expatriate customers.

“The proposed regulation will mandate operators to have in place an end to end process when registering, verifying and updating consumer information to ensure that all their subscribers are legitimate,” said Dr Khalid.

“This is to ensure that the scope of abuse which has led to the current situation we find ourselves in is limited as much as possible going forward in the future.

“The authority is currently investigating around 10 cases in which consumers complained of identity theft, and it is clear that the operators have not met their obligations as per the telecom law.

Action

“The authority shall use the full extent of its powers to ensure that appropriate action is taken against those service providers in order to discourage similar behaviour in the future and ensure consumer protection obligations are adhered to.”

A list of 10 people who have had travel bans imposed on them by telecom companies was submitted to the TRA by Indian Embassy first secretary Ram Singh yesterday.

“We had a detailed discussion on this subject with TRA officials and informed them about the misuse of CPRs,” said Singh.

“Victims are issued bills by telecom companies for mobile numbers they did not apply for.

“We had cases where forged passports were submitted to the telecom companies to get new numbers.”

The TRA plans to visit other foreign embassies as part of its investigation into alleged identity theft and fraud.

Community leaders in the past have urged telecom companies to tighten rules so applicants have to be physically present and sign documents for new mobile phone connections or services. - TradeArabia News Service