The department of telecommunications (DoT) has directed all mobile phone service providers to re-verify existing customers using their Aadhaar number and biometric details.
The order comes days after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley talked about making the Aadhaar as the sole identity card in the future, reported the Livemint.
The DoT has directed the telecom service providers to complete the exercise by early next year. Furthermore, Aadhaar-based e-KYC would also be mandatory for customers obtaining new SIM cards.
“A meeting was held on 13.02.2017 in the department with the telecom industry wherein Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) representatives also participated in discussing the way forward to implement the directions of Hon’ble Supreme Court,” said DoT.
This move will affect over 1.1 billion telecom subscribers who will soon have to go through a fresh verification. According to telecom industry estimates, the entire verification process could cost at least Rs 1,000 crore.
