Jio, Airtel, other telecom operators to test non-Aadhaar KYC process in these cities

Telecom service providers have informed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) about the sites to exercise the Proof of Concept (POC) of the new non-Aadhaar KYC process. Each operator would carry out the process at two sites, as per a DoT notification.

The notification dated November 6 said that Bharti Airtel would carry out the process at Delhi and Meerut while Reliance Jio has listed two sites in Mumbai. Vodafone Idea, the newly merged entity would perform the exercise at Delhi and Baramati in Maharashtra.

The other private player Tata Teleservices has listed two sites in Haryana for the Proof of Concept exercise. Among the public sector players, BSNL would carry out the process at two sites in Telangana, while MTNL has listed Mumbai and Delhi for the same.

“Based on the POC results, further directions for any change in the process, if any, will be issued on the subject,” the notification said.

As per the alternate digital KYC process proposed by the telecom industry, the Customer Application Form (CAF) is to be embedded with live photograph of subscriber along with the original proof of identity (POI) and proof of address (POA) document thereby digitizing the end-to-end process, it said.

According to the department, the entire process shall only be used through the authenticated applications hosted by the licensees.

DoT further said that “only two mobile connections shall be provided per day per POI/POA document to a customer by a licensee”. The proposed process would be applicable to each connection, it added.

The DoT had asked the telecom operators to be ready with the alternate KYC process by November 5, in line with the Supreme Court’s verdict on September 26, in which the apex court disallowed private entities from possessing the Aadhaar details of their customers.