Starting this January 9, it will be mandatory in Mexico to associate mobile telephone lines with a natural or legal person, regardless of the contracting method, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT).
The regulator reported in December that the measure is part of the approved guidelines to eliminate the anonymity that allows lines to be used to commit crimes.
The new regulation formalizes the registration already carried out by telephone operators for the postpaid service, and is aligned with international best practices to restore confidence in cellular telephony, according to the regulator.
The authority assured that the information will be protected by telephone operators and will comply with the Federal Law on Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties.
The guidelines establish that the identity documents to associate telephone lines with a natural person will be a voter ID or passport and CURP. In addition, legal entities must present their Federal Taxpayer Registry.
The director of Regulatory Policy of the CRT, Ricardo Castañeda, specified that the link must be made regardless of the registration that was carried out when a device was acquired.
Read: Mobile lines must be associated with a natural or legal person as of January 9
“It applies to the universe of telephone lines, regardless of the contracting scheme. It may be that we acquired this contract quite some time ago, (but) as of today there would not be complete certainty on the operator’s side that the person who continues to use this telephone line is still the owner of the line,” he declared to Grupo Formula this Thursday.
The regulator gives a margin starting this Friday and until before June 29 to link the lines.
How to register a mobile line?
The process can be carried out in person or remotely. In the first case, you must go to the provider’s service center and the staff will give advice.
In the second case, the applicant will receive a message from their telephone service provider that will include the link to enter a management platform in order to carry out the link.
Operators will send at least one text message per week to remind you of the process.
Telephone operators must have a consultation platform in which people can validate and verify the lines that are associated with their name, and disassociate themselves from those that they do not identify as their own.
Ricardo Castañeda explained that within the process of linking lines by operators, padlocks are provided to authenticate the identity of the applicant, which could include biometric information, but he assured that these data will not be stored.
“The only thing that is stored is validation data that says that the process was successful and it is the only thing that is protected by the operator,” he said.
What happens if the link is not made?
Once the period has expired, the unlinked lines will be disabled, so only emergency calls, citizen service calls and calls to the telephone service provider can be made.
To recover the line you must go to the provider, check if the number is still available and make the connection.
In the case of natural persons, up to 10 lines can be linked.
Get inspired, discover and share. Follow us and find what you are looking for on our Instagram!