From 2nd of July, applying for Mobile-ID becomes significantly easier and faster because it will no longer be necessary to activate Mobile-ID on the police website and everything can be accomplished with mobile operators. Even after 2nd of July 2022, Mobile-ID continues to be a state-guaranteed identity document. Currently issued Mobile-IDs will remain valid until they are due to expire.

From this Saturday, all Estonian mobile operators – Telia, Elisa and Tele2 – will start issuing the new Mobile-ID. Just like before, the new Mobile-ID continues to be a state identity document but it no longer needs to be separately activated on the Police and Border Guard Board website. The new Mobile-ID is now fully issued by the mobile operators.

All current Mobile-IDs remain valid until they are due to expire, within up to five years and they can be used just like before.

“From 2nd of July 2022, only Mobile-IDs issued prior to that date can be revoked on the Police and Border Guard Board website. In case of a name change, Mobile-ID is revoked at Police and Border Guard Board service offices. Mobile-ID can no longer be activated via the Police and Border Guard Board self-service portal or service offices,” said Marit Abram, Coordinator of the Identity and Status Bureau of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board.

Liisa Lukin, Member of the Management Board at SK ID Solutions, pointed out that everyone who’s applied for Mobile-ID but not yet activated it should activate it on the Police website before 2nd of July: “Mobile-IDs issued before or after 2nd of July work the same way but it is important to know that Mobile-IDs previously issued and not yet activated must be activated on the Police and Border Guard Board website before Saturday. For those who are already using Mobile-ID, everything continues the same way until their Mobile-IDs expire. Those, however, who have not yet applied for a Mobile-ID, should definitely consider doing so – the process becomes even easier and faster from this Saturday.”.

An important change is also related to the use of Mobile-ID by minors. Children aged 7 and older will now be able to apply for Mobile-ID. In order to do so, a child and their legal guardian must both have an Estonian personal ID number and the legal guardian must sign the Mobile-ID application.

The third change is that Mobile-ID issuance is no longer subject to state fees and the fourth change is that from 2nd of July each individual will be able to use multiple Mobile-IDs concurrently.

Kristjan Viilmann, Head of Consumer and Marketing at Telia, said Telia has continuously worked towards improving the usability and functionality of its self-service system: “We have made it even more convenient for existing Mobile-ID customers to transition to the new service by sending a new SIM card into their mailbox before their certificates expire, so they are able to activate it at any time via the self-service system and order a new Mobile-ID service straight away. The most convenient aspect of the new service is that the customer can start using it right after they activate the Mobile-ID service via Telia self-service.”.

“Elisa is pleased to announce that the Mobile-ID issuance process will simplify substantially from 2nd of July for our customers because Mobile-ID certificates no longer need to be separately activated on the Police and Border Guard Board website. Elisa is the only operator that allows the whole process to be completed from start to finish in two channels – either Elisa stores or Elisa self-service. Once a customer has ordered Mobile-ID via their selected channel, the service will be ready to use immediately,” said Meelis Seer, Head of New Services at Elisa.

Linda Luise Paluteder, Consumer VAS Area Manager at Tele2, said the company is ready to provide the Mobile-ID service: “Our customers are able to sign a Mobile-ID contract conveniently at Tele2 stores where we physically verify their identity. In order to ensure service security two of our customer service representatives always check the customer’s physical ID. For those planning to apply for a new Mobile-ID we recommend first reviewing information available on our website and then visiting any of our stores. We will help our customers to get Mobile-ID or terminate their Mobile-ID service if they need to do so, for example, due to a change of SIM-card.”

“We are pleased that Mobile-ID continues to be a form of ID and that it can now be obtained more conveniently. It is important for Estonia as an e-state that our people are able to choose which electronic forms of ID they want to use. Diversity of IDs is important to ensure security and greater reliability while also offering users the opportunity to choose the most convenient option for them,” said Martin Lambing, Head of the Electronic Identity Department at Information System Authority (ISA).

Mobile-ID was created by SK ID Solutions as a SIM-card based identity document. Estonia and Lithuania have a total of over 660,000 Mobile-ID users who carry out an average of 20 million operations a month.

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