India alters KYC process flow to support telecom sector
India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) disclosed on Tuesday the administration of a set of directives aimed to simplify Know Your Customer (KYC) processes for the sector’s latest mobile connections and prepaid to postpaid transfers to supplement telecom upgrades.
Following the Cabinet’s issuance of its latest relief package directed at the telecom sector, the DoT, Minister of Communications, and the Indian government will follow in the Cabinet’s footstep by initiating implementation of condensed KYC process flow to provide users with the highest level of services from the comfort of their homes.
Currently, subscribers must follow a KYC process that demands a physical visit to the “Point of Sale” with identity and address information submission to acquire a new mobile connection to convert their connection from prepaid to postpaid and contrariwise.
The aftereffect of the KYC process will result in world-class internet and tele connectivity for the belittled sector.
“Online service delivery has become an acceptable norm in the recent past, and most 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 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,” DoT stated in a press release.
Last week, India’s Union Cabinet approved a much-needed relief package to support an agonized telecom sector by delivering the country’s telcos with the option of transforming interest on spectrum dues into government equity. The package relief is set to boost telco’s capabilities in attracting funds.
Some of the most substantial alterations in the KYC process steps include three key developments, Aadhaar-based e-KYC, Self-KYC, and Open Telecom Platform (OTP) based conversion.
Aadhaar-based e-KYC is a fully functional online process that extracts any paper action from the plan. Its functionality is purely demographic oriented with users’ identification pictures delivered remotely by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
The UIDAI is a central government authority specialized in accumulating citizens’ personalized data such as fingerprints, photographs, and eye scans in the shape of the biometric collection. The data collection falls under various demographic categories and is stored for information tracking.
Self-KYC delivers customers with the remote option of submitting a request for a new mobile connection, which in return will receive a digital confirmation verified by the UIDAI or DigiLocker, a digital document wallet.
DigiLocker or digital locker provides access to authentic virtual documents. It provides users with the desired resources to store vital documentation, such as driving license, ID, Permanent Account Number (PAN) card, policy documents, and many more.
The last upgraded KYC process is the OTP-based conversion that will allow customers to provide details verification with OTP for any Prepaid to Postpaid transfer. It will ultimately permit mobile connection conversion from home or any other location via OTP-based authentication.