As you know, a mobile number is now often used for authentication in various Internet services. SIM cards are issued strictly according to your passport, so this is a great replacement for a passport in a specific Internet environment.
It was previously assumed that electronic signatures could be such a replacement, but they were not widely used by users, unlike mobile phones.
For the time being, from a legal point of view, the subscriber number of the mobile operator is not considered a legally significant identifier. Soon this will change. Experts have developed a draft law that amends the laws “On Communications”, “On Information” and “On the Basics of Citizens' Health” and will allow to confirm the identity of a Russian in the provision of remote services by mobile phone number, Vedomosti reports.
On June 27, 2018, the amendment was considered by the working group on the normative regulation of the digital economy - and sent them for revision. But in fact, no one argues with the fact that a mobile phone number can serve as an identifier for an individual. The question is only in the scope of such an ID. The bill was sent for revision because of some legal details - it is necessary to correctly describe the new ID, said one of the participants of yesterday’s meeting.
In addition to the mobile number, eight more identifiers are registered in the text of the bill, including electronic signature, authorization in the unified identification and authentication system, biometrics or fingerprint data and other data that help determine who is requesting the service and confirm the customer’s identity.
After the approval of a mobile number as an official identity identifier, some remote services in Russia can be provided without downloading a passport scan. This could be the sale of insurance or trips, e-commerce and the provision of financial or logistics services (including transport tickets), said chief analyst at the Russian Association of Electronic Communications Karen Ghazaryan.
Probably, microfinance organizations will quickly orient themselves, which will begin to provide “profitable” loans from 1000 rubles directly to a mobile phone number.
For mobile operators, customer identification is an additional source of revenue. According to experts, the additional revenue of all telecom operators from identifying as a service can be up to 150 billion rubles. for 4–5 years.