The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been instructed by the Union Home Ministry through an internal communication to take action and impose penalty on two telecom firms for not providing exact details of people using internet, reports PTI.

According to the agency, a Joint Director of a central security agency under the Home Ministry through this note informed DoT Secretary R Chandrashekar that Internet Protocol addresses were provided along with exact dates and timings to some telecom service providers.

However, the two firms a private telecom company and a foreign company providing Internet solution in India, were "unable to provide us with exact details and actual user in case of communication" used through mobiles phones.

"As a result, we have been unable to trace our targets. Lack of timely and precise input from the telecom service provider hampers operational effectiveness of the data sought which results in operational ineffectiveness and failure of the ongoing operation, thus undermining the importance of national security," PTI quoted from the note.

The note said that a request had been made to one of the largest private telecom companies of India on May 7 and May 9 with date and exact time for resolving two IP addresses related to internet activity concerning national security.

"But the service provider could not locate the actual user who accessed the internet during the given time," it said.

Another request was made to a foreign company on May 10 with all required details. However, it also failed in providing the details.