Discover with Gautam Hazari why Mobile Identity is the ultimate DPI…

Mobile Identity as a Digital Public Infrastructure
Imagine a normal day in the late Neolithic era. A vehicle is moving on some uneven road to carry goods. The alarming fact is that it’s moving very slowly and sledging. Most strikingly, there are no wheels attached to the vehicle! One of the most innovative moments for our species was about to be witnessed – yes – the invention of the wheel.
And it did not happen in a day. Pottery wheels were invented some time between 6000 and 4000 BC, a long time after humans started to settle down, develop agriculture, and domesticate animals.
This led to the creation of roads – the first public infrastructure (PI) ever built. Public roads enabled one of the biggest innovations for humankind: the invention—or rather the usage—of wheels for transportation from one place to another.
Invention, innovation, discovery, and exploration—these are some of the amazing capabilities of the human species, driven by curiosity, needs, and the quest to improve the journey of the species. Public infrastructures are the incubators of innovation, taking humankind to the next level.
Let’s identify the key characteristics of public infrastructure, which are essential for its effectiveness. I summarise these as SURE:
S – Secure Standards at Societal Scale (Hmm… so it’s 4 ‘S’s, to make it quadruply SURE)
U – Utilities, which are shared and reusable
R – Rules, to ensure proper usage, in the form of governance and policies
E – Equal access, with inclusivity for individuals and institutions
Roads, from the very basic trails to the modern smart motorways, are embellished with the SURE characteristics, making them true Public Infrastructure. We cannot even imagine the world we live in today without the existence of roads, highlighting the importance of public infrastructure for the human species.
Now, let’s look into our digital world. The word “digital” in its current form and meaning started to appear in 1938, although the acceleration of our digital world can undoubtedly be attributed to the start of the World Wide Web in 1989.

Interestingly, the word “digital” is derived from the Latin word “digitus,” meaning finger or toe, signifying the act of counting. In the physical world, we never used the term “PPI” or Physical Public Infrastructure—we never needed to. We almost take PPI for granted. Let’s turn to the more prominent term in the digital world: DPI—Digital Public Infrastructure.
The term DPI has been in popular news, especially after the UN highlighted that DPIs are critical enablers to accelerate the progress of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). In 2023, it was reported that only 12% of the 2030 SDG targets were on track, and measures were needed to turbocharge their delivery.
This was influenced by the immense impact of DPIs in the multi-dimensional aspects seen in India: from digital inclusion to financial inclusion, from better governance of benefits distribution to accelerating the digital economy. Most importantly, DPIs created an incubatory cradle for innovation and catalysed societal-scale inventions.
India serves as a compelling example of the transformative power of DPIs, driving innovation and societal progress through initiatives such as:
AADHAAR: The world’s largest digital identity initiative, providing a foundational ID for over a billion people.
UPI (Unified Payment Interface): Transforming the payment landscape by enabling seamless, instant digital transactions.
ONDC (One Network for Digital Commerce): Democratising digital commerce to create a level playing field for businesses of all sizes.
ABDM (Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission): Advancing health inclusivity by connecting citizens to digital healthcare services.
DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing): Enhancing digital education and empowering learners with accessible tools.
The Bank for International Settlements predicted that India would achieve financial inclusion: 80% penetration of bank accounts by 2064. India achieved it by 2021 – and more importantly, with no gender gap. Through the acceleration provided by DPIs, India took just six years to achieve the banking penetration that would have taken 47 years through traditional approaches.
It has been a global phenomenon. DPIs have been transforming the digital economy globally, fuelling innovation to lift humans into a better life—from the instant payment system Pix in Brazil to transforming digital identity through Singpass in Singapore.

Did you know that DPIs are not new? They’ve existed for over three decades, though they cannot compare with PPIs from the Neolithic era. The first DPI was the World Wide Web With 5.52 billion users, covering around 68% of the global population, it surely follows the SURE criteria of public infrastructure.
Let’s remind ourselves: the Internet, which enables the World Wide Web and is often synonymous with it, was not designed to identify the humans using it—it was designed to identify computers. Identity is the most profound characteristic of our species, driving every aspect of our lives, from culture to nationality and from language to the feeling of belonging. Identity defines humanness.
In the digital world, identity remains one of the most critical issues, requiring solutions that evolve alongside technological advancements and synergise with the physical world. Even in the organic, physical world, there are still 850 million humans without identity, according to a World Bank report.
For such a foundational element—identity—in the digital world, it is imperative to adopt a DPI approach to solving the issue. The solution has existed since 1991, born not long after the WWW: the SIM. Identity in the digital world, enabled by the cryptographic superpower of the SIM, is, in fact, a DPI.
Mobile networks are the largest DPI, covering around 6 billion people—70% of the global population. This identity infrastructure ticks all the SURE characteristics. Initiatives like the GSMA Open Gateway, which enable this identity through global standards at a societal scale, add additional dimensions to the DPI aspect of Mobile Identity.

This could be a critical accelerator for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 16.9—to provide identity for all by 2030—which we at Sekura.id are proudly, and passionately, supporting.
Above all, we must keep the humanisation of technology central to the DPI, and mobile identity, enabled through the SIM and mobile network operators, is certainly a humanised DPI.
Additionally, in the post-GenAI world, where dynamic attributes defining our identity are established, digital identity must maintain the integrity of realness and trust to avoid becoming another “generated” artefact.
Let’s work together to enable every human to have an identity through the superpower of the SIM.
Let’s make mobile identity a DPI to solve the identity crisis of the digital world.
Let’s make the world a SAFr place, together; far from obsolete—it’s our quiet, steadfast guardian.