Why Does the Government Mandate SIM Card Registration Using Face Recognition?

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Director General of the Digital Ecosystem at the Ministry of Communication and Digital, Edwin Hidayat Abdullah, explained the rationale behind implementing biometric facial recognition for new SIM card registrations.

“Why? This is to protect mobile operators, consumers, and the government – mutual protection. It’s not just about safeguarding the government, but also the public, mobile operators, and our nation,” Edwin stated at a press conference on the full implementation of biometric registration at Garuda Spark Innovation Hub in Jakarta on Friday, 29 May 2026.

“Is this new technology? No. Has it been done elsewhere? Many countries have implemented it – Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea – among others. Various measures are already in place,” he added.

The biometric system aims to reduce data breaches using mobile numbers as the primary tool.

“Why is this important? Biometrics provide protection against spam. Indonesia Anti-scam data shows losses of Rp9.5 trillion from 548 reports as of April,” he said.

“This isn’t about making things difficult, but mutual protection for collective progress,” Edwin added.

Edwin previously noted that nearly all cybercrime methods, including scam calls, spoofing (using numbers resembling official ones), smishing (SMS phishing), and social engineering fraud, rely on mobile numbers.

“Digital fraud losses have exceeded Rp7 trillion. Every month, over 30 million scam calls occur, with each person receiving at least one spam call weekly,” Edwin stated in December 2025.

Currently, over 310 million active numbers are in circulation, despite Indonesia’s adult population being estimated at around 220 million.

Beyond combating digital crime, biometric registration for new SIM cards also aims to clean up mobile number databases.