The virtue of virtual

• Follow

On September 15, the Union cabinet took a series of decisions from a four-year moratorium on payment of statutory dues by the telecom service providers to 100% foreign direct investment in the embattled sector. Lost in the headlines was a smaller reform of contactless verification of KYC by those desiring to buy a SIM card. So far, an individual needed to visit the retail store or any other point of sale of a service provider with original KYC documents such as Aadhaar card to verify one’s identity and address, and a SIM card would be approved only after satisfactory completion of the identity and address verification process. The process needs to be complied with both for obtaining new mobile connections or conversion of mobile connection from prepaid to postpaid.

Within a few days of the momentous cabinet meeting, the Department of Telecommunications has issued orders to simplify the process of verification. The entire process is based on Aadhaar. Telecom service providers will be charged a nominal fee of Re 1 per customer authentication by the UIDAI. That has the entire database of the adults of this country along with pictures and biometric details. The telecom service providers would access the database online and match the information given by the applicant.

The pandemic has opened up online service delivery bigtime on a number of fronts such as banking. Millions now use apps on their cellphone to conduct all types of banking transactions. Online monetary transactions and delivery of key documents through OTP authentication have become the norm. Even important documents such as passports are being delivered at home. In fact, the delivery at residence has become a way of verifying address of the applicant The entire E-tailer model is surviving on this model.

This model can be used for e-verification of all types of identities and transactions and should be extended everywhere. SIM cards can be misused to create a number of unpleasant situations. If the method can work for sensitive stuff such as SIM cards, it can be adopted for all deliveries. It would add to the overall ease of conducting business in the economy.