[Authority] potential mobile carrier use case

[Kosuke Koiwai]

• Sometimes mobile contracts are bound to two persons/sets of attributes:

  • Subscriber: the person who actually signed and maintains the contract, and
  • User: the person who actually carries the SIM card and uses the service.

• Typical examples are a parent paying for their child’s contract and an adult person managing the contract for their elder parent.

• In Japan, MNOs usually identity-proofs the person who will actually use the contract, so MNOs have attributes of the users, which are sometimes used for age-verification of a third-party online service.

  • The assurance level of the “user” although is less than the actual subscriber as it is not a (strict) legal obligation.
  • My assumption is that this practice emerged as Japanese law requires MNOs to check whether a mobile subscription is used by minors and apply internet filtering service if so.

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