At this year’s Mobile World Congress the topic of digital identity will be in the spotlight. On 23 February, experts from the mobile industry and representatives of governmental and international organisations will gather at the GSMA’s Ministerial Programme, to discuss the future of digital identity and explore the opportunities and challenges presented by the growing adoption of mobile identity solutions, offering a variety of developed and developing world perspectives.
In a new world of mobility, the nature of service delivery is changing. In recent years, digital technology has enabled people to access goods and services through multiple channels, regardless of their location, in a way that makes their life easier. Across the globe, this is reshaping consumers’ attitudes and expectations, resulting in more competitive and innovative markets.
As trust and reputation become increasingly important assets within the economy, policymakers need to create balanced and functional legal frameworks that impact digital identity management. With digital identity proving a powerful catalyst for digital inclusion and e-Government services, governments around the world are continuing to develop their electronic identification frameworks. In the EU, the implementation rules of the Regulation on Electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the EU internal market (eIDAS regulation) was announced by the European Commission in 2015. This makes the EU the first and only region in the world to have a fully elaborated legal framework for safe cross-border access to services and online interactions between businesses, citizens and public authorities.Thus Europe is expected to have major impact on the standards, regulatory and legal requirements for digital identity and digital services at a global level.
There are also a number of other initiatives and developments around the world that are expected to have an impact on digital identity, such as National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) in the USA, Aadhaar national identification system in India and the Identity Assurance Programme (IDAP) in the UK.
As markets develop, and trust and reputation become more important assets within the economy, policymakers need to ensure consistency between the different legal and regulatory instruments that affect digital identity management. Such consistency and legal certainty will be required not only to ensure interoperability of services across the globe and consistent experiences for users, but also to provide business efficiencies and fair competition across different platforms, thereby encouraging market deployments while enabling innovation, competition and market growth.
Whilst accessibility is key to the success of digital services, security is also a central consideration. As the number of services we access online has grown and the level of risk we expose ourselves to has increased, there is a critical need for more sophisticated, secure and convenient ways of creating, managing and applying digital identities.
Mobile identity represents a powerful platform through which to achieve these aims. Mobile offers a compelling proposition for businesses and governments seeking to provide secure access to digital services. There are a number of signs that mobile is the most suitable platform for a secure digital identity solution. As an enabler, the mobile phone is uniquely placed to provide the convenience and security consumers want when accessing government, banking, health, commerce and other services. Mobile represents one of the most powerful and flexible platforms for the transformation and use of digital identity. Ubiquitous, intelligent, and protected by the SIM card, which is constantly authenticating, mobile already comprises all of the elements required to take the notion of identity into its next generation. The value of mobile identity for businesses and public administrations lies in its ability to provide increased convenience and accessibility, strong security and enhanced privacy for people, as well as lower implementation costs and higher uptake of digital services. Thus mobile identity unlocks the potential of the digital economy.
The GSMA Mobile Connect service provides a potential solution, as the mobile operator facilitated authentication solution which provides simple, secure and convenient access to online services. It works by combining the user’s unique mobile number and PIN to verify and authenticate them online. Mobile Connect will simplify consumers’ lives, offering a single, trusted, mobile phone based authentication solution that respects their online privacy.
People are naturally drawn towards the variety and capability that mobile can offer. Indeed, the uptake of mobile phones is rising; GSMA Intelligence calculate that the number of unique subscribers to mobile services is currently nearly 3.8 billion and set to increase to 4.5 billion by 2020.
Therefore industry and policy makers need to work in partnership to ensure that mobile’s contribution towards digital identity development can be maximised and drive growth, competitiveness and job creation across all sectors. It is clear that mobile operators and policy makers share a common agenda in order to meet the challenges of growth, employment, innovation and sustainability. It is evident that the mobile industry plays a critical role in meeting those challenges.
In 2016 we expect governments to develop their electronic identification frameworks further and create online environments where individuals and organisations can trust each other. In order to build that trust in the next wave of digital services, ongoing cooperation between mobile operators and policy makers is required. The GSMA is ready to facilitate this cooperation and looks forward to continue working with the policy makers in different regions to help shape a balanced and forward-looking policy for digital and mobile identity services around the world.
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To find out more about the Ministerial Programme at the Mobile World Congress, please go to: http://www.ministerialprogramme.com/
To find out more about the Leadership Workshop at the Ministerial Programme, please go to:
http://www.ministerialprogramme.com/leadership-workshops-personal-data/
To find out more about Mobile Connect, please go to:
http://www.gsma.com/identity/mobile-connect