MTN South Africa has rolled out a brand new digital id system utilizing fingerprint and facial recognition know-how to confirm prospects throughout all its shops, aiming to streamline sign-ups and cut back fraud.
The telco says this transfer is a vital step in combating id theft and SIM swap scams, which contributed to R5.3 billion ($300 million) in telecom-related fraud in 2024, in line with a July 2025 report by the Communication Threat Info Centre (Comric).
The rollout comes after a profitable six-month pilot throughout 20% of its shops, the place the know-how made it faster to enroll new prospects and helped stop id fraud. MTN is now the primary cellular operator in South Africa to implement this digital id at scale. MTN partnered with Vigilate AI, a worldwide firm that specialises in biometric know-how, to construct the system.
“The deployment of this biometric system is a part of our ongoing funding in innovation that makes our prospects’ lives simpler, safer, and extra linked,” stated Cornelia van Heerden, Government: Buyer Operations, MTN South Africa. “We’ve reimagined the shopper journey to be quicker, safer, and extra intuitive, with out compromising comfort.”
Daniel Hartwright, CEO of Vigilate AI, stated the partnership with MTN is an enormous step ahead for safe buyer verification in South Africa.
“By combining MTN’s deep buyer perception and attain with our cutting-edge biometric know-how, we’re redefining what safe, customer-centric onboarding can appear like,” stated Hartwright. “This partnership units a brand new benchmark for the telecoms trade.”
“The suggestions from our pilot shops was overwhelmingly constructive,” added van Heerden. “Prospects praised the dramatically quicker sign-up, error-free verification, and comfort of the brand new course of. It’s an ideal instance of how we’re utilizing know-how to ship actual, tangible worth.”
MTN says this rollout is a part of its “MTN’s Ambition 2025 technique” to guide digital innovation in Africa and supply safe, future-ready companies.
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