What is MobileID and why is this service useful?

MobileID is a way to identify a person using a mobile phone. The technology allows you to log in to various services, sign documents electronically, open, make changes, close a business, receive extracts from the registers.

The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine notes that the list of MobileID capabilities will increase over time. In the future, the technology will allow to receive services in banks remotely (open bank accounts, conduct transactions, receive loans), public institutions (obtain rights, register cars, vote and sign petitions), in medicine, education and business fields. The Ministry of Justice stresses that MobileID is more reliable than other authorization methods, such as a login and password, and it will be almost impossible to fake or steal it.

What operators have already connected MobileID?

Even before the law came into force, some mobile services operators launched MobileID with limited list of abilities. Kyivstar launched the technology in test mode at the end of 2017 only for contract subscribers. Vodafone made a similar move in August of this year.

Now MobileID will be available to all users with a full range of features. Vodafone has already started to connect all subscribers to this technology, however, so far only in Kharkiv. Representatives of the operator said that now with the help of MobileID, three types of certificates can be issued: certificates about family composition, registration of residence and technical passport of real estate in the BTI.

Vodafone noted that Kyiv residents can already connect MobileID. By the end of the year, the company plans to launch the service in other major cities, and in the first half of 2019 – in each regional center. Lifecell told AIN.UA journalist that the operator plans to launch the technology in early 2019.

In Kyivstar they said that the operator will conduct a commercial launch of MobileID within the “nearest future”. The company stressed that they have already agreed on the introduction of technology into the portal of administrative services of Dnipro and Lviv. This will allow people who live in Dnipro to receive online information on family composition, place of residence without a personal visit to institutions, and residents of Lviv can order information on the availability of land, registration of residence, family composition, copies and extracts from archival documents, permission for improvement of house territories via the Internet and so on (a total of 100 administrative services will be available).

How to connect to MobileID

As explained in the Ministry of Justice, you need to perform the following steps:

  • Come to the operator service center;
  • Pass the identity verification with a passport and identification code;
  • Get a “new generation” SIM card with electronic signature features.

At the same time, during the passage of this procedure, you will not have to change the phone number. Vodafone, for example, offers to connect MobileID either to an existing number or to an additional one.