La Jornada: Banking applications are blocked on foreign cell lines, they warn

Canceling the cell phone line of Telcel, AT&T, Movistar or Altán Redes (Bait and other virtual mobile operators) with the purpose of avoiding the linking process with the Unique Population Registration Code (CURP) and contracting with a company from another country, implies a risk: that the application service, especially the banking ones, will be blocked.

According to David Pizaña, vice president of electronic commerce of the Mexican Internet Association and lawyer specialized in data privacy, some cell phone users who frequently travel or have family in the United States, for example, think about this possibility to avoid giving their data to telephone operators in Mexico, as ordered by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT), in a series of actions to eradicate extortion and crime perpetrated through cell phone calls.

“In the real, legal part, you can go, contract (a cell phone line in the United States), and it gives you the service in Mexico legally. Where does the operational risk come from? According to various provisions of Banco de México, there must be a block to services that do not correspond to our country,” commented the specialist.

“Banks have the obligation first to geolocate you every time you operate with your Mexican bank or with a financial technology company (fintech) that operates in the country. If they detect that your line is on a non-national communication channel, the operator could begin certain blocks,” he added.

This is due to mechanisms to protect the resources of clients and the financial companies themselves.

The CRT incorporated a section on its website to consult the deadline to link prepaid lines according to the last digit of the number, a period that will end on December 31 of this year.

Although at the end of each period, mobile telephone operators must suspend the lines that have not carried out the linking process to their CURP, users may make said link at any date so that the respective company can reactivate the service.

“Disabled lines may be reactivated immediately, unless there is possible saturation on the linking platforms due to high demand that puts the linking process in line,” stated the CRT.

A link is available on the organization’s Internet page to enter the electronic portal of the telephone company that offers the service, so that users can carry out the procedure.

On its site there is a list in alphabetical order of all the companies that offer cellular lines, including all those that use the Altán Redes infrastructure.

Although telephone companies have the personal data of those who have contracted postpaid lines, there are users who must make the link.