Reliance Jio Reportedly Halts Express Home Delivery of SIM Cards Following DoT Directive

Reliance Jio is said to have halted its plans of rolling out express home delivery of SIM cards in India. As per a report, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) intervened before the telecom operator's initiative was publicly announced and objected to it, citing national security concerns. It has reportedly directed all the service providers in the country to make an Aadhaar-based self-KYC mandatory before SIM cards are delivered to customers.

According to an Economic Times report, Reliance Jio on April 16 wrote to DoT Secretary Neeraj Mittal about its plans of introducing a new initiative which offers express home delivery of SIM cards.The service was scheduled to be commenced on April 25. However, that did not happen.

The issue is reported to have stemmed from Airtel's partnership announcement with quick commerce company Blinkit for express home delivery of SIM cards in India. The DoT, citing national security concerns, raised an objection and directed Airtel, along with other telecom providers, to make self-KYC via Aadhaar verification mandatory before the home delivery of the SIM card is completed.

Thus, Jio, whose plans were still unannounced, is said to have dropped its idea of introducing this service altogether. It remains unknown if the service provider will revisit this plan in the future, following the updated compliance guidelines issued by the telecom watchdog.

Meanwhile, Airtel is reportedly reviewing the structure of its delivery service and it is expected to be resumed. However, with the addition of Aadhaar-based self-KYC, the process may take longer than the previously claimed duration of 10 minutes. Although Airtel initially mandated the self-verification previously too, it was restricted to the SIM card's activation and the delivery itself.

Notably, Airtel's SIM card home delivery service can be availed of by paying a nominal charge of Rs. 49. Introduced for both prepaid and postpaid customers, consumers can also trigger Mobile Number Portability (MNP) if they wish to switch from another network provider to Airtel.