In a big transfer aimed toward safeguarding cell subscribers from cyberfrauds and optimizing the supply of government-sponsored financial advantages, the Division of Telecommunications is within the ultimate phases of implementing a brand new initiative that may allocate a novel buyer ID to cell customers.
The forthcoming cell buyer ID system won’t solely simplify the monitoring of SIM playing cards underneath a single ID but additionally file the places the place customers acquired their SIM playing cards, as reported by Monetary Specific. Moreover, it can facilitate the seamless identification of people who personal these SIM playing cards, amongst different functionalities.
This distinctive buyer ID will function a complete identification level for all features associated to each major and supplementary telephone connections. This progressive idea shares similarities with the 14-digit Ayushman Bharat Digital Well being Account (ABHA) well being ID, which is linked to the Aadhaar Card. ABHA facilitates quick access to medical data and offers medical professionals, resembling docs and insurers, with instantaneous entry to crucial medical data.
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This initiative may also function a safety measure in opposition to the issuance of SIM playing cards to a single buyer exceeding the permissible restrict of 9. At the moment, violations of this restrict are solely recognized when the telecom division in varied licensed service areas (LSAs) conducts audits utilizing AI-based facial recognition know-how.
Over the previous six months, the Division of Telecommunications has disconnected greater than 6.4 million fraudulent telephone connections with the help of facial recognition know-how, demonstrating the federal government’s dedication to enhancing cybersecurity and defending cell subscribers.
To deal with the priority of verifying the precise customers of SIM playing cards, the federal government is contemplating requiring subscribers to declare, on the time of acquiring a SIM card, who inside their household will use the connection. This measure is seen as a manner to assist telecom firms adjust to the verifiable parental consent requirement in circumstances involving youngsters’s knowledge underneath knowledge safety legal guidelines.
Authorities officers have emphasised that the Division of Telecommunications is actively exploring methods to forestall the issuance of fraudulent connections. One such method is to observe connections by a novel shopper ID, which might be issued on the time a shopper applies for a connection.
Moreover, the plan consists of categorizing these shopper IDs primarily based on varied demographics, together with age, gender, marital standing, earnings, training, and employment. The utilization patterns of SIM playing cards related to every shopper ID might be analyzed, enabling the federal government to subject directives to dam particular IDs and related SIM playing cards if any suspicious exercise is detected.
In latest instances, telecom firms have raised considerations concerning the challenges of acquiring verifiable parental consent for processing youngsters’s knowledge in accordance with the Digital Private Knowledge Safety (DPDP) Act. One of many key challenges they face is distinguishing between minor and grownup customers on their networks, in addition to establishing a framework for acquiring consent from dad and mom.
The federal government has lately launched new rules that may require telecom firms to register SIM card sellers and conduct thorough KYC (Know Your Buyer) checks earlier than onboarding them into the system. These guidelines will grow to be efficient from December 1.