Concerned over provisions of UIDAI’S face authentication norms for telcos: COAI

NEW DELHI: COAI has voiced concern over Aadhaar-issuing body UIDAI’S new norms on face recognition saying that some of the stipulated provisions impose additional cost and time burden on telecom firms and are against the tenets of ease of doing business.

The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) said that while the industry fully supports all efforts to make authentication secure and customer-friendly, two of the provisions under the new rules may put fresh posers for telcos.

The face comparison and audit requirements place additional burden on operators and raise costs and processing time, COAI Director General, Rajan Mathews said.

And while the operators will strive to comply with the roll-out deadline of September 15, much would dependent on device manufacturers and their readiness, Mathews added.

“The face recognition enhances security for consumers. But two aspects of UIDAI’S order are of concerns to us. This includes a requirement that operators have to keep a copy of the photo and compare it at the back-end, thus duplicating the process done by UIDAI,” Mathews said.

He said that this new backend requirement goes against the principles of ease of doing business as it leads to duplication of efforts.

“Also, the industry will do its best to comply with the implementation deadline but a part of the compliance also depends on device manufacturers,” Mathews said.

Earlier this month, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) announced a phased rollout of face recognition feature as an additional mode of authentication, starting with telecom service providers from September 15. It has proposed a monetary disincentive for telcos found slipping on the prescribed targets from mid next month.