Papua New Guinea launches integration exercise for national digital identity

Papua New Guinea is forging ahead with its national digital ID. A release says the nation is launching a “data integration exercise” for key partners, including the Civil Registry Office, banks, telecommunication companies and superannuation funds.

In 2024, PNG successfully ran a pilot of the SevisPass digital identity, which aims to help citizens access public and private sector services more easily and securely.

Now, according to Secretary for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Steven Matainaho, the national integration process will involve mapping out sources of personal data, establishing secure and consent-based data sharing protocols, technical onboarding various agencies and connecting them through secure systems, ensuring data structures and formats align with the anticipated Digital ID Trust Framework, and testing for compliance, security and interoperability.

Finally, it will include accrediting digital identity providers to issue SevisPass credentials.

During the digital ID rollout in May and June, national workshops and information sessions will be held to help all data holders and stakeholders understand the system.

The government’s stated goals are to enable secure, consent-based eKYC verification for both public and private sector services, streamline access to banking and SIM registration, enable single sign-on (SSO) across government services – and support biometric identity verification for the 2027 National General Elections.

Officials in charge of elections recently said otherwise, stating publicly that the country is not ready to use biometrics for voting.

Nonetheless, as Matainaho says, PNG is “moving decisively toward a trusted and digitally inclusive future.”

Article Topics

civil registration  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  Papua New Guinea  |  SevisPass  |  SevisWallet  |  trust framework