Aadhaar Number Linking with Mobile Numbers

Aadhaar Number Linking with Mobile Numbers

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 1521
ANSWERED ON: 27.12.2017

Linking of Aadhaar Numbers with Mobile Numbers

THOKCHOM MEINYA
Will the Minister of

COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has issued any direction/circular to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to link mobile number of their respective customers with their Aadhaar Card and if so, the details thereof including the time frame fixed to complete the said exercise;

(b) whether the Government has issued any guidelines in this regard and if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government to smoothen the aforementioned linking exercise;

(c) whether the Government has taken note of the fact that the said linking exercise may allegedly breach the privacy of the TSPs’ customers and if so, the response of the Government thereto along with the steps taken by the Government to ensure the safety of the individual’s data and the privacy of the customers;

(d) whether the Government has issued any circular directing TSPs to reverify their customers through Aadhaar authentication and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and

(e) whether SIM cards registered with legal identity cards but without Aadhaar re-verification would be discontinued from service from March, 2018 and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) to (e) On 16.08.2016, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) issued Aadhaar based Electronic-Know Your Customer (E-KYC) process for issuing new mobile connection to subscribers as an alternative process to the document (Proof of Identity/Proof of Address documents) based process. In this process, the customer and Point of Sale of the Telecom Service Provider (TSP) are authenticated biometrically from Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) server and the demographic details and photograph of the customer are captured in the Customer Acquisition Form (CAF) and stored in the TSP’s database.

While taking cognizance of this process issued by DoT, Hon’ble Supreme Court, vide its order dated 06.02.2017 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 607/2016 filed by Lokniti Foundation V/s Union of India, directed for re-verification of all existing mobile subscribers through Aadhaar based E-KYC process preferably within a period of one year. Accordingly, instructions were issued by DoT on 23.03.2017 to all TSPs for Aadhaar based E-KYC re-verification of all existing mobile subscribers by 06.02.2018. Now, the Hon’ble Supreme Court, vide its order dated 15.12.2017 in Writ Petition (Civil) no. 494 of 2012, has extended the last date of re-verification of mobile subscribers to 31.03.2018.

To further facilitate the mobile subscribers and smoothen the Aadhaar re-verification process, following steps have been taken by DoT:

• Procedure for re-verification of existing outstation subscribers i.e., subscribers who are having Aadhaar issued in other Licensed Service Areas, has been issued on 15.06.2017.

• On 22.09.2017, re-verification has been permitted in case of roaming scenario also.

• The Aadhaar One Time Password (OTP) based re-verification has been permitted on 23.10.2017, as an alternative mechanism, to the biometric based re-verification process for those subscribers who have registered their mobile numbers with UIDAI. Telecom Service Providers(TSPs) have also been directed to carry out door-step re-verification for senior citizens especially bed-ridden and physically challenged persons.

• The detailed procedures have been issued on 01.12.2017 for the re-verification in respect of Subscribers of foreign nationality/Non-resident Indians (NRIs)/Senior citizens of more than 70 years (as on 01.01.2018)/ Physically Challenged persons and Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) based OTP authentication process for subscribers having mobile number registered with UIDAI. TSPs have been directed to implement these procedures by 01.01.2018.

To ensure the safety and privacy of the mobile subscriber’s data, DoT has already directed all TSPs on 23.10.2017 not to bundle any of their services like Broadband, Direct-To-Home (DTH), Payment Banks, etc., with Aadhaar based re-verification of mobile subscribers.

Further, there are no directions so far from the Hon’ble Supreme Court on the issue of discontinuation of SIM cards registered with legal identity cards but not re-verified through Aadhaar based E-KYC process by March, 2018.