Smartphones have become the building blocks of virtual life today. Though laptops can help to do your job better at times, mobile applications have become very powerful and user-friendly these days. It is amazing how much you can achieve through your phone. However, for you to have a functioning smartphone, you would need a SIM card. If you are trying to find out how to activate a new SIM, you should not be worried. The process is quite simple and you can do it very easily. Check out the following steps to find out how to do this yourself.

#1. You should have your Aadhaar card with you

The Aadhaar card plays a very important role in getting you a new SIM card these days. You should take it to the telecom operator’s store if you want to get the new SIM card activated soon. You should download the e-Aadhaar and keep it on your phone or take out a print out of the same. Some of the operators ask for a photocopy or ask you to email a copy of it. You would not need the hard copy of the Aadhaar card to get your eKYC done. Sometimes the operator might ask you to have it in person, and it is better to stay prepared.

#2. You would need to authenticate your identity

If you want to see how to activate a new SIM card, you should let the store personnel use your Aadhaar details to fill up the form. Once the details have been filled in, you would need to authenticate the information by keying in your fingerprints. This will validate the information submitted for the SIM and identify you as the owner of the SIM card.

#3. You would get the SIM card activated immediately

Once you have completed these steps, a new Airtel SIM card would be handed over to you. The SIM card might be activated immediately or it will take 48 hours to activate. All of this would depend on the telecom operator.

What would happen if you do not have an Aadhaar card?

If you do not have an Aadhaar card, the process to get a new SIM card would depend on the operator. Some of them might even refuse to give you a new SIM card in these scenarios. If you do not have an Aadhaar card, you might have to submit an address proof with photocopies like electricity bill or bank passbook. You would also need a government-issued photo identity proof like passport or driving license. You would need to have 2 passport-size photographs on your person. When you have submitted these, it will take some time for the application to be processed and once it has been done, the SIM card will get activated.

Residents of the north-east states, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir might need to wait longer to get their SIM cards activated. The process of getting a SIM card activated is thus quite straight-forward, once understood.