Indonesia to launch biometric SIM registration and facial verification for new phones on July 1

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital (Kominfo) plans to roll out a biometric registration system for new mobile‑SIM cards on 1 July 2026. The scheme will initially apply only to newly issued numbers and will link each SIM to the holder’s National ID (NIK) through facial‑verification technology that does not store the image but performs instant liveness checks. The government says the move aims to curb the more than 30 million scam calls and the estimated Rp7 trillion in losses from digital fraud each month. Operators and the national identity agency are preparing the necessary infrastructure, including ISO‑certified security standards and a manual verification fallback. Telecom analyst Heru Sutadi has urged authorities to extend biometric re‑registration to existing subscribers, warning that dormant numbers are often exploited for fraud and that coordination with messaging platforms is needed. The policy will limit each user to three SIMs per operator and will be enforced only for new registrations, with no retroactive changes for existing accounts.