Egypt Opens Biometric Verification for Remote Telecom Services as Rights Groups Object

Egypt’s National Telecom Regulatory Authority has launched an electronic biometric verification system that lets users complete identity checks and electronic signatures inside mobile applications rather than at a company branch.

NTRA built the system with the Information Technology Industry Development Agency, the Cairo-based firm CyShield and licensed electronic signature companies. The system is being introduced as a pilot, with licensed mobile operators making it available through their own applications in stages, according to their technical readiness. The authority said the scope will later widen to cover a broader range of digital services and transactions.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, coordinating with the Ministry of Interior, supplied the regulatory frameworks, infrastructure and integration platform. That platform connects to the Civil Status Sector at the Ministry of Interior, which NTRA described as the initial foundation for an integrated digital identity system in Egypt. NTRA said the verification architecture was designed to protect personal data while simplifying remote access.

The rollout follows an enforcement action. On August 10 NTRA said it had referred the four mobile operators to the Public Prosecution after complaints from people who found lines, and in some cases mobile wallets, registered in their names without their knowledge. NTRA directed operators to accelerate biometric identity checks in their applications, extending a plan to move biometric SIM verification into operator apps that emerged earlier in August.

A coalition of rights organizations published a joint statement on August 24 calling on NTRA to withdraw any directive imposing biometric verification on telecom users. The organizations said NTRA has not disclosed how many unauthorized registrations it confirmed, nor identified where in the registration process the failures occurred, and that without that finding there is no basis for concluding biometric matching would address the problem. They also noted that the biometric data would be handled by the same companies NTRA referred to prosecutors.

Egypt’s Personal Data Protection Law No. 151 of 2020 classifies biometric data as sensitive personal data and subjects its processing to heightened requirements. An Egyptian member of parliament had sought safeguards for facial verification in SIM registration earlier this month.

Sources: Arab Finance, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies

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By the ID Tech Editorial Team