Mobile numbers deactivated on subscriber’s request, not allocated for 90 days

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday told the Supreme Court that, mobile phone numbers once deactivated for non-usage or disconnected on the subscriber’s request are not allocated to new subscribers for at least 90 days.

The apex court heard a petition raising concern about alleged misuse of data, after a mobile number gets disconnected or deactivated due to non-usage. A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti, which considered the TRAI’s counter affidavit, noted that a subscriber can prevent misuse of WhatsApp data by deleting the WhatsApp account attached with the previous phone number and erasing the data stored on the local device memory, cloud or drive.

The bench stated, we aren’t inclined to proceed further with the present writ petition, as it is clear from the counter affidavit filed by … TRAI that the cellular mobile telephone number once deactivated for non-usage or disconnected on the request of subscriber, is not allocated to the new subscriber for at least a period of 90 days.”

“It is for the earlier subscriber to take adequate steps to ensure that privacy is maintained,” the apex court noted in its order passed on October 30.

Furthermore, it noted that as per the information available on the WhatsApp help centre, “to eliminate enmesh/confusion in case of re-cycled phone numbers, they monitor account inactivity, and when an account is inactive for 45 days and then the account is activated on a different mobile device, the old account data is removed”. Noting the contents of TRAI’s affidavit, the bench refused to entertain to the plea and dismissed it.