In continuation to what we reported earlier (please check e-mails in trail), the Telecommunications Department has in a Notification addressed to all telecom licensees, issued detailed instructions for verification of customers before enrolling them as subscribers along with other verification related matters, with regards to the following:
2 . Point of Sale (POS) registration Reform
Key Takeaways:
A. KYC Reforms:
1. Discontinuation of Bulk Connections and introduction of Business Connections:
• The process of issuing mobile connections under Bulk category is being discontinued. However, a new category of “Business Connections” is introduced in its place to meet the requirements of businesses;
• In the event business connections need to be issued, the licensee has to obtain the following documents from the entity:
a. Corporate Identity Number (CIN), or Limited Liability Partnership Identification Number (LLPIN), or Business License, or trade/ Registration Number, or Incorporation Certificate or Certificate issued by authorities;
b. Goods & Services Tax (GST) Registration Certificate of the entity, if available;
c. Address of the place of business/ working of entity;
d. Any other documents/ information, as deemed fit, for identification by licensee.
• With regards to CIN / LLPIN (obtained as mentioned above), the licensee is required to verify the details / credentials of the Company / LLP from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs;
• After obtaining the above-mentioned documents from the entity, the licensee is required to follow either E-KYC or D-KYC process for verification of the authorized representative of the entity;
• The authorized representative of the entity is required to provide the end-user list (includes name, designation, POI document type, POI document number, and address, etc.) to the Licensee;
• All SIM for business connections issued to an entity are required to be in deactivated state, and should be activated only when each end-user is verified by any of the KYC process;
• The SIM of the end user should be activated only when the demographic details of end-user captured through KYC process matches with the details provided in the end-user list by authorized representative;
• In the event end-user(s) are changed, the authorized representative is required to inform the licensee about such change and it will be mandatory for the new end user to re-verify that connection in his / her name within 7 working days. Failure to do so will lead to disconnection of the existing connection after 7 working days;
• If there are multiple end-users of a business connection, the responsibility of bonafide usage of those business connections lies with the subscribing entity;
• It is mandatory for the licensee to carry out physical verification of premise/ address of the entity before issuing the business connections to the entity;
• Additionally, the premise/ address of the entity should be inspected by the licensee at least once in 6 months for satisfying themselves about bonafide use of such facilities as per the license condition;
• The licensee should also ensure that if a company / entity stops functioning or surrenders its registration, then business connections issued to it are also disconnected;
• The requirement of submissions of information/ documents as mentioned above and the KYC of end-users is dispensed with for Central/ State Govt. Departments, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), Defense forces, designated Law Enforcement Agencies, Central Armed Police forces, Central/ State government organizations involving in strategically sensitive works and Foreign Embassies/ Missions;
• A self-certification on the letter head mentioning the name and designation of the coordinating officer is required to be obtained while issuing business connections. Further, the head of such office/ organization shall also maintain a log book of each individual (end-users) for the period mobile connection is assigned to them and shall ensure that system of effective monitoring is in place.
2. Auto population of details through QR code scanning of Aadhaar:
• In order to remove manual errors in filling of CAFs by POS, while accepting the Aadhaar as POI / POA document in Digital KYC process, the demographic details including photograph of the customer should mandatorily be auto-populated by scanning the QR code of Aadhaar through mAadhaar app/ API of UIDAI; and the same shall be automatically captured in CAF by the Licensee and shall not be visible to the POS.
If the QR code is not readable/ available on the Aadhaar produced by the subscriber, then he/ she may be asked to obtain latest Aadhaar from UIDAI
• Licensees are required to ensure that no editing is permitted for such captured details of the customer. Licensee shall further ensure that no mobile connection shall be activated if the:
i. auto-populated demographic details of the customer are Gibberish
ii. auto-populated photograph of customer is non-recognizable
iii. auto-populated photograph of the customer does not match with the live photograph of the customer
iv. auto-populated demographic details of the customer do not match with the Aadhaar produced by the customer.
3. Modification in Aadhaar based e-KYC Process:
• In the Aadhaar based e-KYC process, the licensee may use finger-print, iris or face authentication modality of UIDAI for biometric authentication of the customer.
• Further, the KYC App of the Licensee shall put a water-mark in readable form having CAF number, GPS coordinates, POS name, unique POS Code (assigned by licensees) and Date (DD:MM:YYYY) & time stamp (HH:MM:SS) on the captured live photograph of the customer
• The other terms and conditions of instructions dated 21.09.2021 for Aadhaar based e-KYC process shall remain unchanged.
4. SIM Swap/ Replacement:
• SIM Swap/replacement is referred to as a process of acquisition of a new SIM card in place of a lost/non-working SIM card by the existing Subscriber.
• The earlier process of SIM swap/ replacement will be discontinued.
• The licensee has to follow either E-KYC process or Digital KYC process in case of SIM swap/ replacement. In addition to this, it must also be ensured by the licensee that new SIM is activated only when the demographic details (excluding address) and photograph of the subscriber captured for SIM swap/ replacement shall match with those details available in the licensee’s database for the same MSISDN.
• The licensee is required to preserve and store all the details (CAF, photograph, etc.) of the subscribers captured during each SIM swap/ replacement along with the original CAF/database (captured during the first-time enrolment) of the subscriber.
• The SMS facility (both incoming and outgoing) shall be barred for 24 hours on the newly activated SIM card.
5. Capturing of GPS coordinates:
• Before activating a new SIM, either for new mobile connection or for SIM Swap/ replacement, the licensee needs to ensure that the GPS coordinates captured during the process is within the area of operation of POS.
• The licensees are required to strictly ensure that editing is not possible or is permitted for such captured details of the GPS coordinates.
• The licensee shall also capture network determined location to verify that App determined GPS coordinates has not been forged/tampered. Necessary consent in this regard shall be obtained from the POS.
6. Reallocation of a disconnected/ deactivated connection:
• In supersession of instructions dated 20.04.2017 regarding reallocation of deactivated/disconnected cellular mobile telephone connection of a subscriber, the cellular mobile telephone connection (MSISDN) of a deactivated or disconnected subscriber shall not be allocated to any other subscriber till the expiry of 90 (ninety) days, from the date of such deactivation or disconnection.
• The reasons of deactivation or disconnection includes but are not limited to the following:
non-usage of mobile connection as defined by TRAI
surrender on the request of subscriber
disconnection or directions received from LEAS/ licensor
• If the directions of reactivation are received from LEA/ licensor before 90 days from the date of disconnection, then the licensee shall immediately reactivate that mobile connection.
• In the event there is a dispute arising due to deactivation/ disconnection of a mobile connection for relaxing the time limit of 90 days as mentioned above, the concerned LSA shall be the competent authority to examine and decide the case and for issuing appropriate directions to licensees, if any.
B . Point of Sale (POS) registration Reform
For provisioning of telecommunication services, if a licensee appoints POS to enroll customers, it is mandatory for the POS to get registered to enrol customers.
The above-mentioned Directions will gain effect on 1st October, 2023 and are not applicable for thirteen (13) digit M2M Sims.
Source: Ministry of Communications
