How many times have you been forced to carry documents, IDs and photos to get a SIM card for your phone? Well, the Indian government is ready to end the hassle of carrying papers and filling forms to get a SIM card from 2024 onwards.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has already issued a notification which confirms the changes, making telcos in the country to completely discontinue paper-based Know your Customer or KYC process. Telcos over the years have talked about the cost-intensive nature of having paperwork involved in issuing SIM cards and they also believe that going digital with this process can reduce the instances of SIM fraud.
People have also found the use of Aadhaar-based verification to be a quick and seamless process that not only gets them a new SIM card issued in minutes, but they also get it activated by the operator in just a few hours, compared to the 24 hour timeframe that telcos needed to clear paper-based verification.
For all these years, people have been required to give documents like proof of identity, proof of address and then attach photographs with the customer acquisition form (CAF) that used to make the process of buying a SIM card extremely time consuming and tedious.
The notification doesn’t say what will be involved in the digital onboarding process but it is likely that Aadhaar will be an option, wherein people can authorise their ID using their biometric details. There was a time when getting a SIM card wasn’t free and you had to pay a small amount to get one.
The process to issue prepaid SIM cards has always been a concern as using fake documents to get a SIM card means fraudsters had easy access to any number they wanted. But going digital reduces the chances of such mishaps and allows telcos to focus on the quality of experience rather than get busy printing the forms and taking copies of documents from the customers.
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