50 Crore Mobile Numbers Risk Becoming Invalid, As Telcos Blame Lack Of Aadhaar Verification

It seems the Aadhaar Card system has brought people nothing but headaches.

First, they were forced to run around validating their SIM cards with the new ID card, and then it was eventually dismissed by the Supreme Court. So now, guess who that lands in trouble once more.

When the SC made a ruling on Aadhaar earlier last month, they had four points they were absolutely clear on. One was that private companies would not be allowed to use Aadhaar verification for any gods or services. The other was that banks and phone numbers in particular could not be tied to an Aadhaar card.

"The DoT notification to that effect is unconstitutional," said Justice Sikri at the time. "No person's right can be denied on the ground of lack of Aadhaar."

The thing is, while this is actually better for people in the long term, it's going to cause more immediate chaos. You see, when you get a SIM card, the telecom company has to perform a KYC check, short for "Know Your Customer". It's basically a way to verify your identity before giving you a SIM card. Without that, anyone would be able to activate as many anonymous phone numbers as they liked, and that's clearly bad.

The problem is, since the SC has said a KYC check can't be performed with Aadhaar, it technically invalidates all the SIM cards that were issued through this process. Telcos still need to verify the identity of the SIM card holder, they just can't use the Aadhaar details they already have. So that might mean around 50 crore mobile subscribers having to verify themselves once more or risk losing their phone numbers.

Yesterday, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundarajan met with mobile telecom operators to discuss an alternative that might make the transition as smooth as possible. However, they haven't yet mentioned if they even have an alternative in mind.

Most of the subscribers that will have to re-verify themselves will be those that opted for Reliance Jio SIM cards. Since 2016, the telco has been conducting biometric KYC tests (your fingerprints linked to Aadhaar), and has over 25 crore mobile subscribers as of last month.

Also Read: Now That It's Not Needed, Here's How To De-Link Aadhaar From Your Bank Accounts & Phone Numbers

Until the matter is figured out by the government, telcos are merely sitting on their hands and waiting. They failed to submit plans for an "exit strategy" to UIDAI by October 15, as the Aadhaar authority had asked. Instead they say they're just going to wait for the government to provide some clarity before acting at all.

That means you should probably ready up your driver's licence, election card, or PAN card and be prepared to make another trip to your local telco branch soon. Sorry, but there's probably not going to be a way around that.