Telenor to roll out e-KYC across 2,000 stores

Telenor has successfully completed deployment of e-KYC facility at 700 stores and plans to extend the facilities to all its 2,000 exclusive retail outlets. E-KYC is an electronic customer verification service and is an alternate activation process recommended by the department of telecom to verify a mobile subscriber’s credentials. A customer can now instantly activate a Telenor mobile connection by providing his Aadhaar number followed by biometric verification at the Telenor store. Speaking at the launch of the e-KYC facility, Upanga Dutta, chief marketing officer, Telenor India said, "This is in line with our ambition of becoming the preferred partner in the digital life of our customers. In a mobile first country, e-KYC reinforces our commitment to make mobile services simple and easy by using innovative technology solutions." Telenor plans to extend the facilities to 10,000 point of sales and take the services to mass market customer subsequently. As part of the e-KYC process, customers purchasing a new mobile connection need to submit their Aadhaar number and verify their credentials through fingerprint biometrics. The details are instantly matched with the UIDAI database and after validation the connection is activated.

The new process ensures confidentiality and privacy of customer information as paper documentation is eliminated. As the process does not require a tele-verification, it radically reduces the waiting time for a new connection.