Indonesia Mandates Biometric SIM Card Registration, Sees Sharp Drop in New Numbers

The government has officially enforced biometric registration for new SIM cards, a move aimed at curbing misuse and creating a healthier digital ecosystem. Minister of Communication and Digital Meutya Hafid stated that the policy closes a loophole where registration could previously be done using only a National ID number (NIK) and Family Card number (NOKK), which were vulnerable to exploitation. “We believe that the number of new mobile numbers, which in the past could reach 1 million per day, has now dropped to around 250,000 to 280,000,” Meutya said during the declaration event in Jakarta. She added that the biometric system allows the government to ensure the NIK used truly belongs to the registrant and to detect if a single NIK is being used for multiple numbers. The government is targeting the biometric verification of an additional 10 million existing subscribers who have not yet completed the process within the next month. Director General of Digital Ecosystem Edwin Hidayat Abdullah revealed that during the initial implementation, a loophole allowed registration via SMS 444 to persist for two days, prompting the ministry to issue a firm warning to operators. By the fifteenth day, all operators were fully compliant, and by the seventeenth day, no old-style registrations were detected. The ministry will continue to monitor for irregularly activated numbers, threatening to unregister those suspected of being activated solely for resale.