I don’t know much about the regulatory requirements of Telecommunication department, and, neither on how they are followed or implemented by service providers like Airtel or Vodafone or Reliance. My experience with getting a prepaid connection is rather unique and moreover disappointing.
Since I am an overseas citizen of India by virtue of carrying an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) document, I am entitled to all the privileges like other Indian citizens except the voting rights. Even though the OCI card does not have a valid from and valid to dates, it is documented inside the card that it is valid forever as long as my identification can be verified.
The problem of getting a prepaid connection is not simple anymore depending on how you want to view it and what sort of documentation you are prepared to submit. What is odd is the fact that these service providers want the copies of your valid documentation along with an application. Granted that the OCI card holder enjoys the same privileges as an Indian passport holder, the only documentation that you would then need is the copies of the OCI card similar to an Indian citizen needing only the copies of the passport to obtain the prepaid connection.
But this is not true. You also need to submit the copies of your overseas passport. Airtel does not accept OCI card as a document that is currently valid unless I can produce some other documentation that has a current validity with valid from and to dates on it. You could produce the copies of the passport or your driver’s license. But my problem is a scenario in which these documents are no longer valid.
It is as simple as the case of passport or your overseas driver’s license expiring after entering India – say in three to six months time. If you have decided to return to India for good, you don’t need them anymore. If this is the case, does it automatically invalidate the OCI card? But the answer is no as I can get my passport renewed or new at a later stage. So what other documents can you produce that has valid from and to date? None!
In this scenario, you cannot get a prepaid connection till such time you get your overseas documents renewed. I believe this is utter nonsense. This is why.
When I enter the country, my passport is valid and it has been verified at the point of entry by an indian immigration official as valid and genuine and I was allowed to enter the country based on my OCI card being associated with the passport I was carrying. So the OCI card is valid as long as I am the holder of that passport even after the expiry date after entering India. But it will not be valid for the purposes of obtaining the prepaid connection, according to Airtel. How can you explain this conflicting validity scenarios of a government issued document? You cannot. I think a common sense approach to document verification is needed to address this scenario.
Since immigration officials do not need the copies of my passport or my OCI card to let me in, this points out to the recognition of the immigration official as the person who can validate my documents with authority. A similar person who authenticates the same on the copies of the documents is a notary official. If the prepaid connection needs to be given based on the documentation verification, it will be as simple as entering the details of the passport onto the Airtel system by an authorized person, rather than requiring the copies of the document being submitted. As long as the system can capture the official who is entering the details, the necessity of submitting copies will be redundent. Moreover, it will lead to less abuse and more security. This is why.
I hesitate to submit any copies of an officially issued document to parties who provide services that are private in nature, unless I can be sure of their security. My worry is the safety and security of the documentation that I provide as they are prone to hacking and abuse by hackers whose intent would be to destroy my credibility in the country of my residence. This is the nature of 21st century and will be so unless a credible and secure way of dealing with documents and identification methods can be designed to prevent it.
To protect the safety and security of my documents, I must resort to questioning the ways in which the documents are transported, stored and accessed. However, it is not going to be possible by me to assess that. If and when not, I can only resort to showing that I do have valid documents in my possession and can reproduce them if there is a requirement to show them later on.
However, this is not acceptable at all from the point of view of Airtel. It is not acceptable by Airtel to accept the officially issued OCI card for issuance of the prepaid connection. It is not acceptable by me, of course, to submit an overseas documentation that would jeopardize by credibility overseas. However, it should acceptable by Airtel and Telecommunication department to honor OCI card as a valid and unexpired document for the issuance of the prepaid connection as the OCI card can trace me back to the passport I am holding if I am temporarily staying in India or held if I have decided to stay in India permanently.