Many roads to sustainable DPI run through private sector biometric authentication

Biometrics contracts from the global push for digital public infrastructure make the biggest waves on the public sector side, between transparency and population scale. But some of the main paths to sustainable digital government service delivery over time involve the private sector far beyond registration and issuance drives; in particular for biometric authentication.

At the same time applications like age assurance and deepfake detection show the opportunity that goes along with the scale of demand for digital services.

Many DPI paths to the same destination

India’s efforts to export DPI around the world have reached pilots of digital identity and payment architecture in 25 countries. And with AI reshaping domestic service delivery through its translation and orchestration capabilities, the government’s private-sector partners see a new wave of DPI opportunity for all stakeholders.

Nepal is upgrading the biometric infrastructure backing its national digital ID with an ABIS from IN Groupe through a G2G arrangement. The country’s current ABIS has a capacity of only a few thousand data entries, but the new system will support civil ID and voter registration integrations with up to 10 million records.

As physical IDs converge with digital ID and government services, expect more opportunities like Greece’s massive €415 million contract for a platform that provides all of the above, plus passports.

Of course, digital IDs and systems for payments and data sharing are of little use if people and businesses cannot or will not use them.

Pakistan wants to build out the connectivity piece of its national digital infrastructure through the newly-created PDA, while the PTA wants the country’s telcos to use what’s there to complete the required biometric verifications through NADRA.

Rwanda could act as a digital public infrastructure incubator for the whole continent of Africa, the CEO of governmental body RISA said during the country’s recent DPI Day. The 50-in-5 member country is already exporting its digital expertise, and hosts the Center for Digital Public Infrastructure in Kigali.

Trinidad and Tobago is taking a different approach with its DPI development, starting with the launch of national digital credential verification platform VerifyTT and the VC to go with it. As such, it represents a more incremental deployment model that stands out among 50-in-5 partners.

Kazakhstan, another 50-in-5 member, has the digital infrastructure and digital government pieces in place, and is investing heavily in digital transformation and AI in the hopes of major economic gains. For them to be realized, PPPs and private sector DPI use will have to go from strategy to reality.

A post from MOSIP on the role of co-creation in making it sustainable as a DPG for the long term highlights successes building tools in collaboration with teams in Cambodia and Ethiopia.

Another way Ethiopia is building sustainability into its DPI is through PPPs, with Ethio Telecom’s announcement that it has enrolled 32 million people for the country’s national digital ID, Fayda, as the latest example.

Countries implementing MOSIP are taking several paths to digital identity sustainability, as explained in the 2026 report on Understanding MOSIP.

New market analysis

While battles over age verification and estimation rage in the media and the courts, a sustainable market has already been established, and it is growing fast. Biometric Update‘s 2026 Age Assurance & Digital Age Credentials Market Report, released this week, explains the evolving landscape of requirements and the opportunities that come along with them.

Few markets, even within the bustling biometric and digital identity industry, are growing faster.  But deepfake detection is, as explained in-depth in The Deepfake Fraud Detection Market 2026: Securing Identity in the AI Era. It’s even a university subject now. The second in a market-report double-header from Biometric Update and Goode Intelligence provides a detailed Buyer’s Guide and detailed analysis of this emerging field.

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Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  digital public infrastructure  |  week in review