As a new rule kicks in, if you want to buy a mobile phone number in China from an telecom operator's store after December 1, facial recognition will be required.
The rule was released in October by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China. It requires telecommunications companies to carry out real name registration.
The goal is to ensure that the applicants and their IDs are consistent. Telecom operators need to carry out full-scale portrait comparison technology measures in physical channels from December 1, 2019.
Under the rule, users are not allowed to resell their phone numbers, and operator should guide users to purchase phone cards at official channels.
The new regulations also require telecom operator to let users check if there are ghost numbers under their names.
