On June 1, 2021, amendments to the Federal Law “On Communications” entered into force in Russia. One of the changes concerns the procedure for issuing eSIM. Now Russians can apply for an electronic SIM card using biometrics. And the first among domestic mobile operators, which allowed its subscribers to issue eSIM remotely, was Tele2.
Tele2 press service representatives announced the launch of a new eSIM remote registration service. If earlier customers had to personally come to the operator’s communication salon in order to issue an eSIM, now this can be done remotely by passing identification through the Unified Biometric System (EBS). The user just needs to connect to the EBS, install the Tele2 mobile application on a smartphone with eSIM support, select a number and tariff and go through identification. For identification, you just need to look into the camera and name the digital combination that appears on the screen.
It is worth noting that Tele2 was also the first Russian mobile operator to start testing eSIM back in 2019. However, due to the absence at that time of the legislative framework regarding digital SIM-cards, subscribers had to buy in a communication salon first a regular physical SIM-card and only then transfer it to a virtual format. According to sources, in this way Tele2 managed to sell about 70 thousand eSIMs in less than two years. Time will tell whether sales of virtual cards will increase with the adoption of the new rules.
As for the Unified Biometric System, it was launched in 2018 by Rostelecom. It stores such biometric data of Russians as voice and face. By the end of May 2021, only about 200 thousand users were registered in the system created by the domestic provider. Experts say that Russians are afraid to transfer their data to the EBS, as they fear leaks of their data, which can then be used by attackers, for example, to withdraw money from accounts or apply for loans.
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