Digital Identity in Focus: SIM Card Registrations Tightened Through Mandatory Facial Recognition and Triple Registration Limit

The Indonesian Government has begun to gradually tighten registrations of Subscriber Identity Module Cards (“SIM Cards”) by new mobile customers through the introduction of mandatory biometric data in the form of facial recognition. In this regard, facial recognition data will now have to be provided during the SIM Card registration process by Indonesian citizens (Warga Negara Indonesia – “WNI”) and foreign citizens alike.[1] This policy constitutes one of the efforts that is being made by the government to assist operators in the clearing of inactive numbers from their databases and the mitigation of mobile-based fraud.[2]