In a move that will affect 39 lakh of the estimated 45 lakh mobile phone subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre today decided to ban pre-paid connections in the state from Sunday in view of security concerns over reports that many of these had been issued without proper verification.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered that no fresh pre-paid mobile connections be issued and that existing pre-paid SIM cards should not be renewed in the state after November 1.

During his recent visit to the state, Home Minister P Chidambaram had said the government had been making efforts to persuade pre-paid subscribers to switch to post-paid connections due to security issues.

In J&K, Airtel has the highest number of prepaid mobiles with nearly 18 lakh subscribers followed by BSNL (12 lakh) and Aircel (7 lakh). Other providers have around two lakh prepaid SIMs.

Two months ago, some 30,000 prepaid SIMs were blocked in J&K after a probe found that militants had been using them.

N N Gupta, Chief General Manager of BSNL, J&K, said: “Nearly 85 percent of subscribers will have to switch to post-paid.”