The Indian telecom ecosystem with over a billion subscribers, is the second-largest in the world after China.
It has been a long time since the telecom subscribers were directed to re-verify their mobile numbers using Aadhar. Recently, the government has taken a few steps, along with re-verification at subscribers’ doorstep and One Time Password (OTP) based authentication of existing users.
In order to make the re-verification exercise more convenient for ill, disabled or old age persons, telecom operators are asked to provide doorstep facility to those subscribers. The methodology adopted is via online mechanism or through mobile applications. Telecom operators are directed to initiate OTP based verification of mobile subscribers.
“This mean that if one mobile is registered in Aadhar database, then the OTP method can be used for re-verification of that number as well as the other numbers owned by the subscriber,” the source pointed out. Nearly 50 crore mobile numbers have already been registered under respective Aadhar database.
When it comes to agent based biometric authentication for re-verification, telecoms have been directed to ensure that neither full e-KYC (Know Your Customer) details should be revealed to the agent nor any data should be stored on the agent’s device.
It was found that especially the senior citizens faced difficulty verifying their identity using fingerprint-based Aadhar authentication. Also, there were those ill-sick bed ridden citizens who were unable to visit the re-verification point themselves.
The telecom operators have been directed to deploy iris verification devices to appropriate number of service points. This step is aimed to solve the problem of distorted fingerprints due to old age or disability. People can instead use the iris authentication which doesn’t seem to have any such ailments.
Aadhar-based e-KYC information is essential for all those subscribers going to own new SIM’s. Further, telecom operators are directed to re-verify existing pre-paid/post-paid customers using the 12-digit identity number. According to the sources, the re-verification exercise is scheduled to be completed by early 2018.