| Indian here and also work in telecom core tech. So more info below 1. about 1/2 year back getting SIM was like getting oxygen. It was like Rs5 or even free some times. It started causing lots of issues. Its way for cheap advertising actually you know Indians tend to spend less, specially in business. Following are some of the consequences i. Marketing SMS from these free/cheap SIM cards
ii. Perverts start irritating ladies(yes, this is true)
iii. Of course lots of marketing calls.
iv. The worst part is its used for all kinds of illegal activity, when police wanted traces, the SIM card vanishes without any proofs.
v. The biggest problem TERRORISTS.
Now govt wanted control over these problems.Govt took few good steps like DND(Do Notcall Directory) where a customer registers himself/herself to this service do not get any unwanted calls. If such calls comes then the operator will be heavily penalized. 2. Since they wanted tracking of the the valid users of the SIM, strict rules followed to give govt provided photo id for Indians and passport for non-Indians. And also took strict activation mechanism that a voice call is made from operator to verify the user details given. 3. now the tech part :). You know since India is one of the biggest countries and due to business and competition we have around 17 operators. Even complex part is although Airtel(in your case) in Delhi and Bombay, technically both work as different operators(yes its true). 404-10 Airtel Delhi and 404-92 AIRTEL Mumbai. refer this link http://modmymobile.com/forums/70-slvr-l9-l72/555395-mcc-mnc-...
This means if your Delhi user and make call from Bombay the original authentication happens in Delhi itself(in telecom language its called Home Location Register HLR in short). And when you visit Bombay/Mumbai you are in a location called Visitor Location Register in short VLR. Since your card is not yet activated the VLR rejects you,Hope this helps. P.S: India does not allow location based services as of now. and TRAI(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) expects your calls SMS etc are stored for 36 months. So if you have done something wrong using mobile phone in India, beware that govt has 3 years to get hold of you :) HAPPY MOBILING IN INDIA :) |