Reliance Jio has halted its plans to launch an express home delivery service after a similar initiative by Bharti Airtel and Blinkit was barred by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on national security grounds, according to a report by Economic Times.
Airtel and Blinkit had announced their plan to deliver SIM cards within 10 minutes in 16 cities across the country last month. The service was being offered at a charge of ₹49, allowing customers to activate their numbers within 15 days using Aadhaar-based KYC authentication.
Jio had also announced its plan to roll out a similar service in a letter written to DoT secretary Neeraj Mittal on April 16. Espousing the benefits of such a service, Jio wrote (as quoted by ET), “Airtel’s initiative enhances customer convenience in spirit with the government’s policy for adopting customer-friendly processes. We shall also be launching a similar initiative with effect from April 25,” Jio said in its letter, a copy of which was seen by ET.
DoT suspends Airtel’s 10 minute delivery push:
As per multiple media reports, Dot had recently stopped Airtel from offering the service on national security grounds. The telecom authority had also asked all operators to ensure that Aadhaar based KYC authentication happens before the actual delivery of SIM cards.
“The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked Bharti Airtel to ensure that the Aadhaar-based know-your customer (KYC) authentication exercise is concluded before the actual delivery of SIM cards at customer homes, in keeping with current government regulations” Times of India quoted a source as saying.
The ET report states that Airtel has confirmed it is ‘complying’ with DoT regulations and will soon restore its home delivery service. However, since the KYC process is now completed before the SIM is delivered, the delivery period could be slightly longer.
