The government on Tuesday issued a series of orders simplifying the know your customer (KYC) processes and thereby initiating the telecom reforms announced by the Cabinet on September 15.
“In a major step towards achieving this objective, the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India… issued a series of orders simplifying the KYC processes and thereby initiating the telecom reforms announced by the Cabinet on 15.09.2021,” said the government in a statement on Tuesday.
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Presently, a subscriber has to undergo the KYC process which entails visit to the point-of-sale along with the original documents of identity and address as proof for obtaining a new mobile connection or conversion of mobile connection from prepaid to postpaid or vice-versa.
Online service delivery has become an acceptable norm in the recent past and most of the customer services are being offered through the internet with OTP authentication. Contactless services in the COVID era need to be promoted for subscriber convenience and also for ease of doing business.
Customer consent has been made compulsory in case the Aadhaar is being used and demographic details are being obtained electronically from UIDAI.
Accordingly, the following orders for immediate implementation have been issued by DoT to implement contactless, customer-centric and secured KYC processes:
Aadhaar based e-KYC
Aadhaar based e-KYC process has been re-introduced for issuing of new mobile connections. Telecom Service Providers will be charged Rs. 1/- per customer authentication by the UIDAI. This is a complete paperless and digital process wherein the demographic details along with pictures of the customer are received online by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) from the UIDAI.
Self-KYC
In this process, the issuing of mobile connections to the customers is done through an App/Portal-based online process wherein a customer can apply for mobile connection sitting at home/office and gets the SIM delivered at his doorstep using documents electronically verified by UIDAI or DigiLocker.
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Conversion of mobile connection from Prepaid to Postpaid and vice-versa via OTP authentication
The implementation of OTP based conversion process enables a subscriber to convert his mobile connection from Prepaid to Postpaid and vice-versa sitting at home/office via OTP-based authentication.
Currently, to obtain a new mobile connection or conversion of mobile connection from prepaid to postpaid or vice-versa, a subscriber has to undergo the KYC process that entails a visit to the retail shop along with the original documents of identity and address proof.
You can now get a new mobile connection using an app, or a SIM card delivered to your doorstep, shift from a prepaid to postpaid connection or complete the process of knowing your customer (KYC) without visiting any mobile store. The telecom department has initiated a set of reforms that will enable contactless, customer-centric, and secured authentication for India’s mobile subscribers
