Pakistan’s two identity and telecom authorities have given conflicting accounts of whether face verification through the state PakID app will be available for issuing SIM cards.
In a written reply to the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Division, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said the National Database and Registration Authority had refused to make PakID available for facial-recognition based SIM verification, despite proposing the facility in 2025. Cellular mobile operators had already completed a proof of concept.
NADRA rejected that characterisation. “There has been no withdrawal of facial verification and no reversal of NADRA’s position. What has been clarified is the respective institutional responsibility,” the authority told ProPakistani. It said it never proposed PakID as the platform for SIM issuance or customer onboarding, only as one route by which a citizen could obtain a facial verification result from its Multi-Biometric Verification System for use with a regulated organisation. Its earlier plans, it said, also allowed banks and telecom operators to run face or iris checks at their own outlets after installing suitable equipment.
“The issue, therefore, is not whether facial recognition works, but where the capture takes place, who controls the edge environment, and who remains accountable for it,” NADRA said. Under the new framework, PTA sets the verification requirements for SIM issuance while NADRA provides the identity verification service and the technical and security standards.
The model NADRA favours puts the camera in the operator shop. A biometric would be captured at the operator end, sent to the operator data centre and then transmitted to NADRA for matching. Operators would not be permitted to retain customer biometrics or build their own databases, and the capture devices cannot store biometric data or templates. NADRA said the system must also carry safeguards against deepfakes, biometric substitution and morphing.
PTA said it is reviewing the technical and regulatory implications with the industry under NADRA’s Requisite Access to National Data Warehouse regulations, notified on July 28. One operator is examining face verification through its own mobile application, with feasibility being assessed before any proof of concept. The regulations allow NADRA to set a compliance period of up to six months from notification.
NADRA has been building out its consumer identity products through the year, beginning the rollout of a locally made QR national ID card this month, after Pakistan accepted the Pak ID digital card for passport identity checks in July.
Sources: ProPakistani
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
