SC bans Aadhar based verification for new SIM connections
Posted on: 28/Sep/2018 3:35:40 PM
The method of using e-KYC to approve new mobile connections was recently banned by the Supreme Court order. Now, the Telecom Department has officially informed all the telecom companies about discontinuing the e-Aadhar system for customer registration.
That said, henceforth, customers cannot get their new SIM cards activated within matter of minutes as the case with authentication based on Aadhar using biometrics.
Speaking about this, Aruna Sundararajan, the Telecom Secretary says they would meet the UIDAI officials, telecom service providers and law ministry so that they can affirm their compliance with Supreme Court orders.
So, the mobile service providers or the private retailers will henceforth not be able to demand for Aadhar details for new customer registration processes.
As the system was very convenient, all the telecom operators shifted to verification based on Aadhar details, but the complete process is now changed.
Senior officials from the DoT says that they will be coming up with a new method where digital verification will be possible rather than previous Aadhar-based system. If this does not work out, the conventional method of verification through document submission will come back to existence.
The officer says there can be this conventional method of document submission or a new option of e-KYC process. The price involved in obtaining new customer through e-KYC is Rs 15 whereas for e-KYC process, the money involved is Rs 100.
With Aadhar details, customer verification process can be done within just a few minutes. This also brought down the total money involved in getting new customers. The risk of faking documents also got reduced in the Aadhar based system. Criminal activities and connections for illegal actions came do a dip.
Because of security reasons, the government had earlier mandated Aadhar based authentication for customers. There were over 100 SIM cards bought by the same customer in Delhi!
With e-KYC, on the other hand, phone activation will be possible instantly rather than approaching the call centers. And there is no hassle of submitting proofs, IDs and photos.
