Kathmandu. On Monday, an SMS terror was unleashed by misusing the personal mobile numbers of 5 million Nepali users. Even when such a big incident occurred by misusing the SMS system of a telecom company for political gain, the regulator Nepal Telecommunication Authority is silent.
Instead, Nepal Telecom has issued a notice and clarified the incident itself. The company shied away from responsibility, saying that they did not give customer data to anyone. But the regulator did not consider it necessary to issue any public notice or appeal in this regard.
As of Tuesday evening, no notice addressing the SMS terror had been published on the authority’s website. When contacted, Authority spokesperson Min Prasad Aryal clarified that although discussions were held on this issue, no notice has been published so far.
However, Authority Chairman Bhupendra Bhandari was seen expressing concern about this in the story of his personal WhatsApp account. His story, which seemed half-complete, read:
“Serious objection to unauthorized use of mobile numbers: Recently, many citizens, including me, have been receiving such messages (SMS) on their mobile numbers without any prior information, consent or request. Key questions: How was our personal mobile number collected in this way? Through which person, organization or system?”
Similar SMS terror was also unleashed during the Genji movement. But so far, no one has been able to identify the person responsible for the incident and bring them to justice.
Nepal Telecom says after SMS terror of royalist protests – We did not give out customer data
Nepal Telecom has spoken out about the SMS sent to millions of mobile users urging them to participate in the royalist demonstration. The telecom has claimed that it did not provide the personal details of its customers, saying that some service providers using its system sent political messages contrary to the agreement.
In the past few days, more than 5 million SMSes have been sent through SMS gateways Aakash SMS and SI Alert asking them to participate in the royalist demonstration on 30 Pus. The telecom has issued a statement and clarified the incident after it was widely criticized as ‘SMS terror’ and a serious violation of privacy.
The telecom has stated that some service providers affiliated with its Value Added Service (VASS) system have been distributing messages of a political nature that are different from their business activities and that it has received widespread complaints from service recipients in this regard.
“Nepal Telecom has been granting permission to various service providers to distribute SMS for the promotion of various business activities. However, Nepal Telecom does not provide the personal mobile number and other details of any service recipient,” the company said.
The telecom has warned the concerned service providers not to spread messages that disrupt ethnic, class, religious, communal or political harmony.
It was revealed that ‘Vedvyas Enterprises’, which is owned by Ditsar Sedai, sent more than 5 million SMS using the Aakash SMS platform, inviting royalist protests.
