From 2024, Indians will not be required to provide documents for obtaining SIM cards.
How many times have you had to carry documents, IDs and photos to get a SIM card in your phone? Well, the Indian government is all set to stop carrying papers and filling forms to get a SIM card from 2024 onwards.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has already issued a notification confirming the changes, whereby the country’s telcos will completely end the paper-based Know Your Customer or KYC process. For years, telcos have talked about the paperwork involved in issuing SIM cards, and they also believe that going digital with this process can reduce SIM fraud.
People have also found using Aadhaar-based verification to be a quick and seamless process, not only getting a new SIM card within minutes, but also being activated by the operator within hours as opposed to 24. the one-hour time frame that phone companies needed to remove paper-based verification.
All these years, people have been required to provide documents like ID proof, address proof and then attach photos using the customer acquisition form (CAF), which made purchasing a SIM very time-consuming and tedious.
The notification does not say what the digital adoption process will involve, but it is likely that Aadhaar will be an option where people can authenticate their identity using their biometrics. There was a time when getting a SIM card was not free and you had to pay a small amount to get it.
The process of issuing prepaid SIM cards has always been a concern, as the use of fake documents to obtain a SIM card meant that fraudsters could easily access 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 printing forms and taking copies of documents from customers.
