The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), a telecom industry body which represents companies such as Vodafone Idea (Vi), Reliance Jio, and Bharti Airtel. COAI has backed the GoI (government of India) order for SIM binding, which on the other hand, has irked the citizens. The SIM binding rules suggest that users will only be able to use OTT (over-the-top) communication apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and more seamlessly only on the devices they have their SIM card on. So for example, if you have a companion device for WhatsApp, on which there's no SIM, then you will be logged out of the app in six hours.
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So you will need to log-in every six hours, which is something that would be a huge incovenience for customers. But COAI has backed this SIM binding notion from the government. The industry body said, "It is important to clarify that this is a deliberate and essential security safeguard, to prevent misuse from outside (and within) India and to stop untraceable frauds and scams while restricting international subterfuges intended to defraud Indian subscribers or cause security harm to the country. This ensures that our communication channels are not exploited freely from outside India by fraudsters or non-state actors, who pose a grave threat to national security and citizen safety."
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COAI believes that critics of the government decision have overstated their concerns about the value of this GoI order. SIM binding closes important loopholes, which, as per COAI, has been exploited in the past.
COAI said, "Concerns about privacy are similarly misplaced. SIM-binding does not require any expanded data collection by App based communication services and does not create new metadata categories. It simply ensures that the SIM linked to a user’s identity is present during periodic authentication events, mirroring the widely accepted UPI model. This enhances security without intruding on user privacy."
