New Delhi, October 18: Mobile SIM cards of almost half of India’s phone population could be disconnected following the Supreme Court's verdict restraining the use of Aadhaar data by private companies, a Times of India report said. However, the government and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said there is no risk of disconnection. The issue has come to the fore after the Supreme Court recently barred private companies from using Aadhaar for authentication purposes.

Mobile SIM cards bought on the basis of Aadhaar verification may be affected if users fail to do a fresh identification, said the report. Reacting to it, the department of telecommunications and the UIDAI clarified that such reports are "completely untrue and imaginary". The government is in talks with cellular companies and the UIDAI to avoid such a situation where phones are disconnected in vast numbers. Stop Aadhaar Based Services: UIDAI Tells Online Payment Companies.

The issue was reportedly discussed on Wednesday at a meeting attended by telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan. After the meeting, Sundararajan said the government was exploring options through which SIM cards can go under transition with causing inconvenience to people. “We want to ensure that it is a smooth transition with little problems for subscribers," she told TOI.

Customers of Reliance Jio would be more affected during the transition process because the company started operations by on-boarding customers only through the biometric route. SIM cards of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea, and state-owned BSNL and MTNL would also face disconnections. Telecom companies are waiting for the government directions over the issue. Telco Writes to UIDAI, Seeks More Time to Submit Aadhaar EKYC 'Exit Plan'.

“We are still not clear on the way forward. We had been asked by UIDAI to submit an ‘exit plan’ by October 15. However, a final direction on this matter will be clear only when we receive instructions from the telecom ministry," a top official of a leading mobile company was quoted as saying.

Those who have bought SIM cards through just Aadhaar verification may be asked to submit a new identification document as part of the KYC process. Customers would be asked to provide documents such as driving licence, voter’s card, PAN card and passport for fresh identification.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 18, 2018 10:32 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).