Jio, Airtel And Other Telcos Ordered To Create Aadhaar Delinking Plan In 15 Days
Supreme Court has already ordered that Aadhaar is not needed for new SIMs
And, the first shot has been fired.
UIDAI, the apex body under which Aadhaar was created, has now ordered all telecom operators to formulate a comprehensive Aadhaar delinking plans in 15 days.
What does this mean? And how will this diktat impact telecom users?
Keep reading to find out more!
UIDAI To Telcos: Aadhaar Delinking Plan Needed!
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has issued an order to all telecom operators, that an Aadhaar delinking plan needs to be submitted in 15 days.
Hence, by October 15th, telecom operators such as Jio, Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and BSNL will have to explain how and when they will delink Aadhaar details from users’ account.
As per PTI, the order said, “…all TSPs are called upon to immediately take actions in order to comply with the judgment dated 26.09.2018. In this regard, TSPs are hereby directed to submit by 15th October 2018 an action plan/exit plan to the authority for closure of use of Aadhaar based authentication systems…”
What Does This Mean?
As of now, Aadhaar is heavily used to e-KYC or electronic Know Your Customer procedure by telecom operators.
In fact, Jio’s KYC is solely based on Aadhaar; and other telcos too are using Aadhaar for verifying their new customers.
Now, after this order, these telecom operators will be required to create a plan, wherein Aadhaar is not mandatory for KYC procedure.
This means that new connections will have to be verified via old, paper-based method, or a new electronic KYC procedure will be devised.
Why This Order Has Been Passed?
Late last month, Supreme Court had passed an order, which stated that Aadhaar is no longer mandatory for activating and buying a new SIM Card, along with opening bank accounts and school admissions.
This latest UIDAI order is a step to fulfill the Supreme Court’s order and to make the process of activating a new SIM card completely Aadhaar-less.
The same order from the Supreme Court also directed all telecom companies to delete Aadhaar details from their database, and this means lots of new work for them.
Jio, Airtel, Vodafone, and others have been primarily using Aadhaar for completing eKYC, and now, they will have to devise alternate ways.
It would be really interesting to observe how these telecom companies take this task ahead. We will keep you updated, as more details come in.
Related:
Aadhaar Delinking: Companies Are Still Asking To Send Digital Copies; Confusion Continues!
Paytm, PhonePe, Freecharge Stop Using Aadhaar For KYC; What Is The Reason?
