Overview

Over the last several years, telecom companies like Skyetel have been under an immense amount of pressure from both the Federal and State governments to insure we are doing everything in our power to stop illegal robocalls and fraud. As part of these regulations, carriers are now required to conduct diligent "Know Your Customer" reviews for all new customers. 

In order to accomplish this as painlessly as possible, Skyetel utilizes Stripe's Identity Verification solution. This insures that your private information remains completely secure, is never ever sold to third parties, and is not stored locally on the Skyetel network. This guide is intended to provide clarity on what we do with the data we collect, and why we are compelled to collect it. 

But First, Your Privacy

We respect your privacy, and we understand that this feels invasive. Your identity information is protected by the most strict privacy standards in our company, and are subject to the following policies:

1. Your information is only accessible by a group of people hand selected by Skyetel's C-Suite. Skyetel's Sales Team, NOC, and even Compliance departments do not have access to your documents. As of this writing, only 5 people have access to these documents (The CEO, CTO and CFO of Skyetel, and 2 people who are among our most trusted team members). 

2. Your information is not saved anywhere on Skyetel's network. We do not keep your information in any database that we control, nor is it stored in any bulk facility we have access to. In fact, we do not even host the website or code where you validate your Identity.

3. All of your information is stored by Stripe, one of the most secure payment processors on earth. 

4. When you complete an Identity verification, Stipe validates that the information in the ID is accurate, and then passes a Pass/Fail to Skyetel via a web-hook. The details of the pass/fail are only accessible by the people in #1. 

5. This goes without saying - but we do NOT sell this information. We do not share it unless compelled to by a court order in a valid jurisdiction. 

"Know Your Customer"

"Know Your Customer" is a long-standing set of regulations that exist in a variety of industries. The most common example of a KYC industry is banking. When you go to open a bank account, the Bank has to collect an enormous amount of information about you - your SSN, ID, Signature, etc - and then validate that information prior to opening an account for you. These rules exist in order to make it nearly impossible to use a regulated service (like a banking) for illegal activity. 

Under new regulations imposed on phone carriers like Skyetel, we are obligated to perform a similar amount of due diligence on customers. The purpose of these regulations are exactly the same as for banking - to make it nearly impossible for you to use the PSTN for illegal activity. 

These regulations are not new for telecom companies - wireless carriers have collected a ton of information about their customers (including your SSN, Address, ID verification, etc) for years. In effect, by enforcing the same sets of regulations on carriers like Skyetel, the governments making all telecom companies operate at the same level.

Do I have to do this?

Yes. All customers on Skyetel will need to be verified through our KYC process. There are no exceptions. 

Manual KYC Process

We understand that there are circumstances where using a government issued photo ID is not a suitable validation - IE, you are a larger company or government body - and in those cases we are able manually perform a KYC.

Performing a manual KYC is only available under the following circumstances:

• You must be a company with more than 20 employees
• Your company must have an EIN or GST number
• All owners must live in either Canada or The United States
• You must have a General Liability Insurance Policy 
• All payment methods must be issued from banks located in Canada or The United States

Manual KYCs typically take a week to complete, during which time your Skyetel account will be inaccessible. If you would like to have the KYC process completed manually, please contact sales@skyetel.com.