Smartnet was engaged to review a decade-old issue with the activation of pre-paid SIM services in Australia that had led to inefficient business processes for telcos, frustrating outcomes for consumers and poor regulatory compliance with law enforcement requirements for the identification of subscribers by some parts of the telecommunications industry.

Smartnet undertook detailed business process modelling and regulatory option analysis and proposed a new single step activation model for telcos. Part of which involved giving telcos the ability to verify pre-paid subscriber identity documents online using the government document verification service.

After extensive stakeholder, industry and consumer consultation the new model was accepted by government; the necessary regulatory changes were implemented and arrangements made to introduce fee-based access to the document verification service for all telcos.

Smartnet has expertise in solution prototyping and modelling and as part of this assignment, built an online solution demonstrator that was used by industry and other stakeholders, including for privacy and regulatory impact assessment.