Lok Sabha Question No. 1521 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-12-27
Subject: Linking of Aadhaar Numbers with Mobile Numbers
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: THOKCHOM MEINYA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1521

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 27 TH      DECEMBER, 2017

## LINKING OF AADHAAR NUMBERS WITH MOBILE NUMBERS

## 1521. DR. 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  reverification 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  reverification 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  reverification  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  reverification 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  reverified through Aadhaar based E-KYC process by March, 2018.

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