Blinkit-Airtel SIM delivery paused as DoT asks telcos to abide by KYC norms

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Just days after Blinkit-Airtel SIM home delivery was announced with much fanfare, the service has been put on hold, sources said.

The move came after DoT queried Airtel on the process being followed and made it clear that stipulated norms have to be complied with, the sources said.

The Telecom Department recently circulated a mail to various telecom service providers, saying "the existing self-KYC process, as per the extant instructions, shall be followed scrupulously."  A person privy to the development said that the offering has been "put on hold, not discontinued". A quick search done on Blinkit for Airtel SIM returned no matches.

A user on X penned a post saying: "Tried ordering an Airtel SIM via Blinkit. By the time I blinked... the service was discontinued ..."  Emails sent to Airtel and quick commerce platform, Blinkit, seeking comments on the status of the launch announcement and whether or not the same have been discontinued, did not elicit any response.

On April 15, Bharti Airtel had announced this partnership with Blinkit for the delivery of SIM cards to its customers within ten minutes.

It had said that in the initial phase of the launch, the SIM delivery service will be available across 16 major cities, including metropolises such as Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Ahmedabad, Surat, Chennai, Bhopal, Indore, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.

There were plans to add more cities and towns over a period of time.

"This collaboration marks a significant milestone enabling, as it does, customers to receive SIM cards at their doorstep in a minimal 10 minutes at a nominal convenience fee of Rs 49," the joint release by the two companies had said.

After the delivery of the SIM card, customers can activate the number using Aadhaar-based KYC authentication, as per stipulated process, it had informed at that time. The release that time had also said that customers will have the option to choose from both postpaid and prepaid plans or trigger a mobile number portability for porting into the Airtel network.

The release had explained that in order to streamline the process, customers can access the online link and view the activation video for a seamless activation experience. Additionally, for all such activations, Airtel customers have the option to access the help center through the Airtel Thanks App for any assistance, it had said.

Post-delivery of the SIM card, it will be mandatory for customers to activate the SIM within a 15-day window to ensure a smooth and hassle-free transition, the release earlier this month had said.