Contactable CEO Shaun Strydom argues that African telecoms operators, not banks, are best positioned to drive digital identity adoption. Drawing on Vodacom and MTN's combined $1-trillion in mobile money transactions, he contends operators have already proven they can build financial infrastructure at population scale. The piece proposes modernising South Africa's Rica SIM registration framework into a reusable, biometrically anchored digital identity credential — reducing fraud (SIM-swap attacks cost R5.3-billion annually), enabling instant onboarding, and creating an integrated identity layer across operator ecosystems. The argument is that commercial incentives, not mandates, will be the catalyst for scaling verifiable credentials.
Table of contents
Infrastructure is converging but adoption isn’t automaticFrom Rica obligation to identity infrastructureIdentity that enables ecosystems, not inhibits themThe catalyst question61 Impressions