The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended the use of Aadhaar-based e-KYC for verification of existing mobile subscribers.
“Aadhaar linked e-KYC service provides a robust mechanism to verify the identity of a person electronically and instantaneously from the source itself, based on the biometrics of a person. Thus, it takes care of the issues relating to fake or forged identity proof and manual entry into the system etc,” the regulator said in a statement.
TRAI has also recommended that the use of Aadhaar-based e-KYC be permitted for outstation customers.
“DoT may work with TSPs (telecom service providers) to evolve a framework to verify the existing mobile subscribers through Aadhaar based e-KYC services in a phased manner and within a defined time frame.
However, this process should be optional to the service providers as well as mobile subscribers,” the regulator said.
It added that as e-KYC verification could not be made mandatory, “a scheme could be formulated to encourage the existing subscribers” to undergo the e-KYC process.“The existing paper-based KYC is not robust enough and the possibility of significant number of working SIMs, which may have been acquired on fake/forged identity, cannot be fully ruled out. The owner of such fake identity would not even be aware that SIMs are working in his/her name,” Trai reasoned.
Stating that it had received several cases from state police departments where it had been found that hundreds of SIM cards have been obtained using fake documents, TRAI is of the view that the existence of such SIM cards posed a real security challenge.
